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The Interior of the 
Kingdom 



BY v/ 

DAVID VAUGHAN GWILYM 

Author of ** The Sacrament of Preparation," *' The Vision that 
Transforms/' and ** The Spirit in the Body Mystical." 



• • • 

• • • 



NEW YORK 

THOMAS WHITTAKER 

2: AND 3 BIBLE HOUSE 



'%^''^' 

^.G.'^*' 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS. 

Two Copies Received 

JUL 24 1903 

f^ Copy light Entry 

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OBPY B. 



COPYRIGHT, 1903, 
BY 
D. V. GWILYM 



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CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

Page 

The Frontier and the Interior 1 

CHAPTER n. 
The Entrance . ^ 10 

CHAPTER in. 
The Kingdom 18 

CHAPTER IV. 
The New Outlook 25 

CHAPTER V. 
Consolation in Sorrow 32 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Food of the Soul 40 

' " CHAPTER VII. 
The Fruit of Righteousness 47 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The Condition of the Vision 54 



Contents. 
CHAPTER IX. 

Page 

Radiators of Peace 63 

CHAPTER X. 
The Beatitude of the Persecuted 72 

CHAPTER XL 
The Pattern on the Mount 80 

CHAPTER XII. 
The Ideal Realized 87 

CHAPTER XIII. 
The Living Organism 95 

CHAPTER XIV. 
The Apostolic Method 104 

CHAPTER XV. 
The Holy Spirit in Relation to Daily Toil 112 

CHAPTER XVI. 
The Threefold Attitude 122 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



FROM the thirteen provinces of Japan the 
Buddhists view the mountain of Fusji-san. 
Not to cHmb the mountain once in a Hfetime 
is considered a breach of Japanese duty to the 
ancient gods. On the top of the mountain the 
pilgrims from the different provinces meet. Here 
their white vestments are stamped and sealed by 
the priests. The mountain towers aloft 12,000 feet, 
but to view and admire it at a distance will not 
secure priestly benediction ; the pilgrims must climb 
every inch of the way. 

In the Beatitudes we have the real mountain of 
God. It is the mountain of benediction and blessing. 
To secure its blessings it must be climbed. Many 
view it and admire it at a distance, but they are too 
much attached to the cosmetic attractions of the 
valley to begin to climb. But the spiritual climber 
alone enjoys its blessing. ''Every place that the 
sole of your foot shall tread upon that have I given 
unto you.'' Mountain climbing is irksome, it is 
real soul- work, but it is the only way to the moun- 
tain top. Every step in the upward march develops 



spiritual muscle and bone; it strengthens the soul 
and dilates the heart. "Who will ascend into the 
hill of the Lord?" With the Holy Spirit we may 
climb to the top, and from Zion's lofty peak we may 
gaze on the thrilling visions of the Kingdom of God. 
''The King's daughter is all glorious within/' The 
higher we climb upward, great things become 
greater, and small things become smaller. 

Hence, the mountain top is the meeting-place of 
the radiant inner circle. Here they are above the 
fog; here they understand each other. Here they 
walk in the light as He is in the light, and ''We 
have fellowship one with another, and the blood of 
Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.'' 

The object of this book is to show the way to the 
mountain top. Many professing Christians are liv- 
ing perpetually in the valley ; hence, they have no 
peace, no joy, no strength. Others live on the 
northern slope of the mountain where there are 
perpetual mists, and frost and snow, cold winds and 
sunless skies. But, in thus calling attention to the 
mountain top, we have not overlooked the relation 
which the top sustains to the base and to the valley. 
The base and the top form one mountain; so the 
physical and the spiritual form one life. There is a 
great deal of false Mysticism in these days, which i& 
nothing but vaporized spiritual talk. There can be 
no antagonism between the " inner " and the " outer " 
life. Any spiritual talk that does not end in practi- 



cal good to mankind is mere affectation. If Christ 
dwells in the inner He will control the outer life. 
Nothing is of any value in the spiritual life except 
that which ends in practice. 

The title ''The Interior of the Kingdom'' implies 
the existence of an exterior. But with the official 
and doctrinal exterior of the Kingdom we have 
nothing to do in this book. Our object is to de- 
scribe the internal riches and graces of the Kingdom, 
and their practical application to daily life. 

D. V. GWILYM. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE FRONTIER AND THE INTERIOR. 

OF all the mountains mentioned in the Bible 
none can be more sacred to the Christian 
than the one on which Jesus delivered the 
laws of His Kingdom. Our interest in the mountain, 
and in the truths which were proclaimed there, is 
the result of our vital interest in His personality. 
As He sat in the midst of His disciples, He was the 
very embodiment of spiritual reality. All the 
hidden potentialities, all the grace and power of the 
New Kingdom, were then summed up and gathered 
together in His own person. He was the beginning 
and end of a new creation — of a New Kingdom. 

The New Kingdom is founded on the Incarnation. 
Christ became man in order that He might, through 
the Holy Spirit, live in man. On the mount of the 
Beatitudes, He was a visible person with His 
followers. They could see Him with their eyes, 
they could feel the touch of His sympathy as He 
lived and labored among them ; but still He was 



2 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

not in them. He became visible, that is, a person 
outside of His followers, in order that He might 
more fully and wonderfully dwell in them after the 
Day of Pentecost. Man needs Divine power. 
With sin inside and God outside, the struggle with 
sin becomes hopeless. 

The New Kingdom is the means through which 
Christ communicates His own fulness to His 
followers. It is the means through which He 
extends, stretches out, and perpetuates His life 
among men. He came into the world to establish 
a Kingdom. His whole ministry was a definite 
preparation for it. His very first public utterance 
was a reference to the Kingdom. After the record 
of His temptation we read: ''From that time 
Jesus began to preach, and say. Repent, for the 
Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'' From the very 
beginning of His ministry, the heart of Christ was 
wrapped up in the idea of the Kingdom, for He longed 
to dwell in His followers, and thus perpetuate His 
life among them. This is what makes the study of 
the laws of His Kingdom so interesting to us. It 
is because we know Him that we understand them. 

Children often read books without taking any 
interest in the personality of the author; but 
mature minds read them chiefly because they 
reveal the soul of the author. It is the same with 
regard to music or painting. They are loved best 



THE FRONTIER AND THE INTERIOR. 3 

when they are loved as forms of expression, as 
utterances of a spirit Hke our own. The pianola 
makes fine music, but it can never supplant the 
piano, because its music is soulless. It lacks the 
vital touch. The connection between it and the 
originating mind is too remote to arouse an interest. 

Now, the Incarnation brings Christ very near to 
us. He lives in us through the Holy Spirit. For 
this reason the words He spoke whilst on earth 
move our souls. They are His words; they express 
His personality, His mind, His soul. He still 
speaks them to us, it is His voice we hear as we 
read them. A company on board a boat at night- 
fall looks toward the lighthouse lamp. Who cares, 
of all on board, what hand kindled the flame ? They 
cry, ''There it is!'' But one man on board knows 
that the lamp has been lit by the loving hand of 
his wife, so while others cry '' There it is ! " he whispers 
"She is there!" 

This is an illustration of the different minds with 
which people read the laws of the New Kingdom^. 
Some say: ''There they are/' But those who 
know the King say lovingly, "Here He is!" To 
those who know Him, they are pictures of His 
loving heart. Even in their sequence and alterna- 
tions the Beatitudes describe His life. His life 
was an alternation of solitude and activity, of 
contemplation and work. The very place that He 



4 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

selected to deliver the Beatitudes was in keeping 
with His private custom. After preaching and 
performing works of mercy in the valley, it was 
His custom to seek the solitude of the mountain 
slope. After working and toiling in the busy 
streets, He got away from the noise and bustle of 
the world to hold communion with His Father. 

But it was not for mere convenience that He 
ascended the mountain to deliver the laws of the 
New Kingdom. ''When He went up into the 
mountain" with others, it was to mark some 
special occasion, some exceptional turning-point in 
the fulfilment of His earthly mission. Our Lord on 
this occasion ascended the mountain, not merely as 
a Teacher, but as the Legislator and Founder of the 
New Kingdom. If we bear this in mind, it will 
help us to understand the legislative character of 
the Beatitudes, and the relation they bear to the 
rest of the Sermon on the Mount. All the circum- 
stances connected with the Beatitudes, including 
the remote and proximate preparation for their 
promulgation, show not only that they were intended 
to be the permanent laws of the New Kingdom, 
but they show also the essential nature of the New 
Kingdom. 

Every item in the preparation reveals the loving 
heart of Christ. Let us glance for a moment at the 
remote preparation and contrast it with the prepara- 



THE FRONTIER AND THE INTERIOR. 5 

tion which preceded the promulgation of the 
Decalogue. The Israelites needed a long prepara- 
tion before they could receive the Ten Command- 
ments as a permanent standard and rule of life. 
But notice the character of the preparation — a 
series of miracles of punishment and destruction, 
the plagues of Egypt and submersion of Pharaoh. 
Christ, on the other hand, prepared His disciples 
for the laws of the New Kingdom by a series of 
miracles of mercy — ^healing the sick and delivering 
men from the power of the evil one. 

Christ also prepared the way for the promulgation 
of the Beatitudes by definite preaching. His fame 
as a preacher ''went throughout all Syria." His 
journeys through the towns of Galilee, and other 
parts of Palestine, preaching and healing the sick, 
drew around Him a great multitude of people. It 
was when He saw the multitude that He realized 
that the time had come for the promulgation of 
the permanent laws of His Kingdom — ''The King- 
dom that shall have no end.*' 

Let us now notice the proximate preparation. 
"And seeing the multitudes He went up into a 
mountain: and when He was set, His disciples 
came unto Him.'' Notice, how climbing the 
mountain, on this occasion, reveals the heart of 
Jesus. He knew that climbing the mountain 
would have a powerful sifting influence on the 



6 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

multitude. It would test the sincerity of His 
followers. It acted on those who had followed 
Him from town to town out of curiosity, like 
Gideon's test. Those who had followed Him out 
of mere curiosity would not take the trouble to 
climb the mountain in order to be with Him. Thus 
the final preparation for the promulgation of the 
new laws afforded ample protection against an 
utterly promiscuous multitude. There is no reason, 
however, for limiting the company to twelve; for 
the selection of the twelve had not taken place 
when the Beatitudes were delivered. Our Lord was 
doubtless followed up the mountain by a large 
company, but a company sufficiently prepared by 
His teaching, and attached to His person, as to be 
known as His disciples. Thus the very preparation 
shows the nature of the New Kingdom. Only the 
spiritual mountain-climber, who turns his back on 
the valley in order to be with Christ, can enjoy the 
New Kingdom. 

Again, the position Christ occupied on the moun- 
tain, in the midst of His disciples, is symbolical of 
the difference between the Old and the New dis- 
pensation. At Mount Sinai, God was on the top 
of the mountain, away from the people. On the 
mount of the Beatitudes, Christ sits lovingly in the 
midst of His disciples — ''Emmanuel, God with us.'' 
At Sinai, the people were afraid of the Lawgiver, 



THE FRONTIER AND THE INTERIOR. 7 

here they press close to Him, eager not to lose one 
word of truth which falls from His gracious lips. 

Again, the whole scenery of the two legislations 
is characteristically different. Here, instead of the 
savage desolation of the wilderness, we have the 
smiling beauty of the mount of the Beatitudes, near 
the dwellings of men. Instead of the peals of 
thunder, and terrifying words, we have the Prince 
of Peace talking lovingly to His disciples. 

But greater than the difference in the external 
circumstances of the two legislations is the difference 
in their substance. The old is a law of prohibitions 
and threats, the new is a series of blessings and 
promises. The old appeals to the motive of fear, 
the new holds up the flag of eternal progress and 
appeals to the motive of hope. There is, however, 
no antagonism between the Old and the New. 
The Old Law is just as much an arrangement of 
love as the New. The Ten Commandments are 
simply the landmarks of love. They are a fence 
placed by a God of love to prevent His children 
from going astray. God is eternal love. His 
threats andjprohibitions are just as really utterances 
of love as His promises. The Old Law is a fence 
placed by God on the Frontier of the Kingdom. 
To cross the fence at any point is to be in the enemy's 
country — in the realm of heinous sin. This shows 
us the 'essential malice of sin. To cross the bound- 



8 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

ary line placed by a God of love is not only to'^set 
up our judgment against God's judgment, but it is 
a crime against our own souls as well. 

In giving the Ten Commandments God appealed 
to the only motive that man at that stage of his 
development could understand. It was by listening 
to the Law, the Old Schoolmaster, that man was 
prepared for the promises and blessings of the New 
Kingdom. The Old Law, then, is the Frontier, 
the New is the Interior, of the Kingdom. Instead 
of appealing to the motive of fear, the new legisla- 
tion opens before the mind's eye visions of spiritual 
wealth and glory. Every note in the new legislation 
is optimistic. The New Kingdom is the realm of 
realization, the realm of hope, the realm of untold 
spiritual wealth. The prohibitions of the Old Law 
become the songs of the New Kingdom. The old 
landmark says, ''Thou shalt have none other gods 
but me," but the man under the dominion of the new 
legislation sings: ''Whom have I in heaven but 
Thee, and there is none upon earth I desire beside 
Thee." 

The old law could make nothing perfect ; it could 
not supply the dynamic of obedience, it could not 
deliver man from the thraldom of sin; but it 
prepared the way for the bringing in of "a better 
hope" through which we can be transformed into 
the image of God's Son. The New Kingdom is the 



THE FRONTIER AND THE INTERIOR. 9 

realm of spiritual power. The King Himself sup- 
plies the power of obedience. He is the food of the 
Kingdom. Some day we shall be like Him. He 
came to show us the way, He came to lift us up, 
He came to make us like Himself. '' Beloved, now 
are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear 
what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall 
appear, we shall be like Him ; for we shall see Him 
as He is.'' 

To be under the dominion of the new legislation 
is to burn with a desire to be like Him. The 
very beauty of His life attracts us on, and His grace 
impels us. Climb, climb, the mount of the Beati- 
tudes ! Reader, turn thy back on the Frontier and 
press bravely on to the Interior of the Kingdom ! 



CHAPTER II. 

THE ENTRANCE. 

WHAT a wonderful moment that was in the 
history of the Kingdom of God when Christ 
sat in the midst of His disciples ! Perhaps 
the disciples, as they sat at the Master's feet, were 
filled with conflicting emotions and wondered among 
themselves what His first word would be. At last 
our Lord ''opened His mouth'' and said ''Blessed." 
The very first word in the new legislation reveals 
the purpose for which the Kingdom of God exists. 
Christ came into the world to bless mankind and to 
make them happy. All men, whether Christians 
or not, seek happiness. But it is in their notion 
of what happiness is, that they differ. Many have 
tried to find it outside of God, but have failed. 
The Beatitudes are a series of Divine paradoxes to 
rectify the notions of mankind in relation to true 
happiness. Our Lord, in showing in what true 



THE ENTRANCE. II 

happiness consists, shows also the way in which it is 
to be secured. 

Blessedness is the possession or proper quality of 
God Himself. He alone is the Blessed One. Christ 
came to make us partakers of the Divine nature — 
came to communicate His own blessedness to us. 
Our Lord's first word, therefore, promises a partici- 
pation in the blessedness of His own person. The 
promise of blessedness was not altogether new ; for 
the same words are found several times in the 
Psalms: ''Blessed is the man that walketh not in 
the counsel of the ungodly." '' Blessed is he whose 
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." 
''Blessed are the undefiled in the way," etc. 

All these are blessed in various ways; but our 
Lord in the Beatitudes is laying the foundation of 
a new legislation, and a new philosophy based on 
His own Person — ^based on the Incarnation — and 
so He says: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for 
theirs is the Kingdom of heaven." 

Our Lord in making self-abnegation the condition 
of entrance into His Kingdom strikes at the root 
principle of sin. Selfishness is the starting-point 
in the history of wrong-doing. It is the cause of all 
our misery. An angel in heaven said "I," and at 
once became a devil. Isa. XIV. 12-15. 

The first sin committed was an act of rebellion 
against God. It was man seeking to be a god to 



12 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

himself; seeking his own way, his own happiness 
outside of God. Selfishness has been the secret of 
all failure in human history. 

When Christ came into the world, He saw, as no 
one else ever saw, the torrents of iniquity and 
corruption that streamed like a black Niagara 
from the roots of selfishness. It carried the principle 
of ruin and decay into every department of life. 
The world had accomplished much in the way of 
philosophy, art, culture, patriotism, politics, states- 
manship, and legislation. But selfishness blasted 
all its beauty, destroyed its harmony and sapped 
out all its strength. It ruined the family, ruined 
the State, it ruined Greece, it ruined Rome. It is 
the great disintegrating force in human life. 

Selfishness is a brute force, and for that very reason 
it is a scattering force. Whenever men seek their 
own individual good without any regard for the 
common welfare, fraud and oppression must follow. 

When Christ came into the world all men sought 
their own: they sought riches, wealth, and posses- 
sion for their own exclusive enjoyment. Selfishness 
was triumphant and, therefore, sin and misery, 
death and darkness reigned everywhere. Christ 
came into the world to deliver mankind from the 
thraldom and bondage of selfishness. Not merely 
to deliver the little world of Judea, two thousand 
years ago, but the great world of all the nations 



THE ENTRANCE. 13 

and of all the ages. He came to deliver us. He 
came to found a New Kingdom, a new spiritual 
force based on His own Person. Selfishness is a 
scattering force. The New Kingdom is a gathering 
force. The New Kingdom is the very antithesis 
and antidote to selfishness. 

The only way to enter the New Kingdom is to 
acknowledge the failure of the selfish, or unit, 
principle, and to make an unconditional surrender 
to the King of the New Kingdom. The New 
Kingdom is the realm of co-operation and love, 
within its borders no one liveth unto himself. The 
root principle of sin is selfishness, the root principle 
of the New Kingdom is self-abnegation. Its founda- 
tion stone was laid in the virtue of self-emptying. 
It became a possibility only when He for our sakes 
became poor. The New Kingdom began, not by 
accumulating for selfish use, but by giving for the 
use of others. 

The Father gave His Son, the Son emptied Him- 
self of His glory. The principle of serving others 
runs through the Kingdom. Every one who enters 
shares the spirit of the King, who took upon Him- 
self the form of a servant. Now, before we can 
give, we must have somewhat to offer; before we 
can serve the King, we must renounce the principle 
which is hostile to Him. 

Many people in these days, who are trying to 



14 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

eliminate the cross from Christianity, say, ''Give us 
the Sermon on the Mount." And yet the first 
sentence in the Sermon on the Mount embodies the 
principle which they do not like. Self-confidence 
must be broken down before we enter the Kingdom. 
A real sense of need, of nothingness, and of absolute 
dependence on God is the only condition the King 
requires of those who wish to enter His Kingdom. 

The very term which our Lord uses helps us to 
understand this principle. Everybody knows what 
is meant by poverty. The idea is easily understood 
by all. Actual poverty is a type of spiritual need. 
The actually poor have nothing; they depend on 
others. Thus actual poverty becomes a type of 
that profound spiritual need which secures for the 
penitent an entrance into the Kingdom of God. 
The way to the Kingdom is open to all. Kings and 
beggars, but all must pass through the narrow gate 
of self-abnegation. The characteristic tone of feel- 
ing required is that of the publican smiting his 
breast, or the hunger-tortured prodigal, or the once 
self-righteous Paul — "wretched man that I am!'' 
It is the acknowledgment of the need of a new 
power, a new center of life, that secures an entrance 
into the Kingdom. The Holy Spirit is the Agent 
through whom the work of initiation is done. He 
is the Porter that opens the door. 

To be in the Kingdom implies soul-kinship with 



THE ENTRANCE. I 5 

the King. Those who are united to Him have His 
tastes, His interests, His sympathies. His spirit. 
Union with Christ is the basis of Christian service. 
Beneath the fact of what we do is the fact of what 
we are. If the Hfe is Christ -centered, then we 
will serve others as Christ did. St. Paul says, 
'' Not I, but Christ." There was a great deal of the 
'' I " about Paul before he entered the New Kingdom. 
But after he was ''translated" into the Kingdom 
of God's dear Son his only boast was the cross of 
Christ. "God forbid," he says, "that I should 
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by 
whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the 
world." 

It is difficult for us to fully appreciate the com- 
pleteness of the self-abnegation implied in these 
words. Since those days, the cross has become 
outwardly respectable. It has been so rayed with 
secular glory by poet and painter, that his words 
do not strike us as they must have struck those to 
whom he wrote. 

It meant in those days what the gallows, or the 
electric-chair, means in these. To give his words a 
modern color we should have to substitute the 
word gallows, or electric-chair, for cross. His 
words would then read: "God forbid that I should 
glory save in the gallows by which I am hanged 
unto the world and the world is hanged unto me!'' 



l6 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

Now, what did Paul mean when he said that he was 
crucified to the world? He meant that the cross 
had forever separated him from the accumulated 
fruit of selfishness which is known as worldliness. 
Through the cross the selfish principle had been 
dethroned and Christ enthroned. He was, there- 
fore, dead to worldliness; because it is ever hostile 
to the interests of the New Kingdom. But the 
world is quite another thing. It was in this world 
the Kingdom was formed; here it was established. 
It is God's world and, therefore, there can be no 
antagonism between it and the New Kingdom. 
The King is human and Divine. Every human 
virtue and Divine perfection are blended and 
eternally glorified in Him. He is the Carpenter of 
Nazareth and the King of glory. His Kingdom 
partakes of the same nature. It is a blending of 
the physical and the spiritual, of the temporal and 
eternal. 

We must first seek the Kingdom of heaven for 
ourselves, before we can labor for its establishment 
in others. For just as heaven must be in us before 
we can enter heaven, so we may speak indifferently 
of our entrance into the Kingdom of God, or of the 
entrance of the Kingdom of God into us. 

In any case we must first possess the Kingdom 
before we can work for its establishment in the 
individual, in the home and in the State. 



THE ENTRANCE. I 7 

The King has taught us to pray: ''Thy will be 
done on earth as it is in heaven." The Kingdom of 
God means more than grace in the soul, it means the 
reign of righteousness in daily life. Crime and vice, 
dishonesty and tricks of trade, are. the outworking 
of the unit principle. The initial virtue of the New 
Kingdom dethrones selfishness and enthrones the 
spirit of devotion and self-sacrifice. The law of 
service runs through the New Kingdom. The 
Father gave His Son, the Son gave His life to the 
last drop of blood. He still gives Himself. To all 
who enter His Kingdom He says: ''As my Father 
sent me, even so send I you.'' The Kingdom is for 
those who have renounced the unit principle, and 
who live and labor for others. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE KINGDOM. 

SOUL-KINSHIP with the King implies that the 
Kingdom is a present possession. Our Lord 
does not say that He will give the Kingdom of 
heaven to the poor in spirit ; but He says : ''of such 
is the Kingdom.'' They now enjoy the Kingdom, 
because they are what they are. The moment of 
their subraission to the King was the moment of 
their emancipation from the false attractions of 
earth. When they gave up all, the doors of the 
Kingdom were opened and they entered into the 
realm of spiritual power and wealth. Only the 
poor in spirit who have soul-kinship with the King 
possess the Kingdom. They alone can appreciate 
its glories and riches. "The natural man receiveth 
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are 
foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, be- 
cause they are spiritually discerned. ' ' ' ' Except a man 
be bom again he cannot see the Kingdom of God." 
The poor in spirit are born into the Kingdom. 
They see what they see, because they are what 
they are. They who give up all get all. ''Theirs 
is the Kingdom,'' says the King. "All things are 
yours," writes Paul. 



THE KINGDOM. 19 

Now, it is of the utmost importance to under- 
stand in what sense the poor in spirit possess the 
Kingdom. The new possession is the result of a 
new relation. The Kingdom sustains the same 
relation to poverty of spirit that the flower does to 
the root from which it springs. 

When the poor in spirit surrender to the King 
they do so without any thought of other gain. 
It is the King Himself they seek. No one seeks 
personal gain in the New Kingdom. It is because 
they seek nothing that they gain everything. The 
Apostles themselves did not fully understand this 
principle till after the Day of Pentecost. On one 
occasion St. Peter asked, '' Behold, we have forsa.ken 
all and followed Thee, what shall we have therefore ?" 
The Apostles had been listening to our Lord's 
conversation with the rich young man. The young 
man wanted life eternal, wanted to enter the King- 
dom without surrendering the selfish, or unit, 
principle. To him the supreme test was his wealth. 
Peter heard our Lord saying: '*Go, sell that thou 
hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have 
treasure in heaven; and come, and follow me.'' 
The young man could not make the surrender, and 
for that reason went awa}^ sorrowfully. The 
Apostles were amazed at what our Lord said after 
the rich young man had gone away. They wondered 
what this treasure in heaven might be which He 



20 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

promised to those who surrendered all for His sake. 
The Apostles had surrendered all to follow Him, 
and so Peter said, ''What shall we have therefore?" 
The question reveals a spirit in Peter like that of 
the rich young man. He had given up all to follow 
Christ, but he expected a return here on earth. 
The Apostles at this time expected an earthly 
Kingdom. They did not understand the nature of 
the New Kingdom. Our Lord in answering Peter 
said that those who have forsaken houses, or 
brethren or sisters, or father or mother, or wife 
or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall 
receive a hundred-fold and shall inherit everlasting 
life. 

It is only those who follow the King out of personal 
love, only those who leap forward and say, ''Where 
Thou goest I will go, where Thou lodgest I will 
lodge,'' that receive the manifold, or hundred-fold, 
more in this present time. 

Now this is enough to show that the reward of 
the first Beatitude is not something added to the 
virtue of poverty of spirit, but that it belongs to it. 
The possession of the Kingdom springs from the 
disposition. The term ''Kingdom" will help us to 
understand the greatness of the reward. Even an 
earthly kingdom may be viewed from many sides, 
and present many aspects. 

Sometimes the word "Kingdom" stands for the 



THE KINGDOM. 21 

King, sometimes for the State, or Emxpire, itself; 
sometimes it means the government or administra- 
tion; sometimes it means its territorial possession, 
or the natural forces at its command, or the laws 
by which it is ruled, or the form of its polity, or the 
material resources and wealth which it possesses, or 
the character which distinguishes its history. 

Now, if the idea of an earthly kingdom is so 
multifold, so ''manifold,'' so complex and various, 
how much more necessary and appropriate it is 
for us to heap together one idea after another in 
order to convey even an imperfect conception of the 
wonderful riches of the Kingdom of God! The 
essential idea of a Kingdom is that of wealth. The 
poor in spirit possess the Kingdom and all its riches. 

First, the King belongs to them. They sur- 
rendered all to Him and He has given Himself to 
them. The union is perfect. Aquinas, when asked, 
What reward wilt thou have? answered, ''None 
other than Thyself, Lord; none other than Thyself.'' 
a Kempis cried out: "I had rather be a stranger 
upon earth with Thee, than possess heaven without 
Thee." It was a sense of union with Jesus that 
made Xavier sing, "My God, I love Thee, not be- 
cause I hope for Heaven thereby." 

To possess Christ is to possess all. He is the 
Pearl of great price. He is the "hundred-fold in this 
life." Thus the Kingdom is the realm of possession. 



2 2 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

David says, ''One day in Thy courts is better than 
a thousand.'' One day in the New Kingdom in 
fellowship with the King is better than a century of 
time. One kiss of welcome from the lips of the 
King is better than unending ages of the tenderest 
human affection. ''Blessed are the poor in spirit/' 
for the King is theirs ! 

Secondly, the history of the past is theirs. They 
inherit the promises made to the patriarchs who 
left house and home at the bidding of God. The 
nominal Christian owns a Bible, because he paid for 
it; but the poor in spirit who enjoy the freedom of 
the New Kingdom alone possess it. The interior of 
the Kingdom is the illuminative way. To those 
who live close to the King, the writings of the Law, 
the revelations of the Prophets, and the melody of 
the Psalms become living realities. Their hearts 
burn within them as He talks to them by the way. 
Truly the history of the past is theirs ! 

Thirdly, the powers of the Kingdom are theirs 
by virtue of the indwelling presence of the Holy 
Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Administrator of the 
New Kingdom. To Him its entire administration 
has been committed. He distributes the gifts of the 
King. He conveys to the citizens of the New 
Kingdom the untold riches which are stored up for 
them in the person of the King. Life is measured 
by its fulness, not by its length. One day's 



THE KINGDOM. 23 

experience of the full, abundant, life which those 
enjoy who live in the Interior of the Kingdom 
outweighs in solid value a lifetime lived on a 
lower plane. Just to live one day in conscious 
fellowship with Christ is to have a faint idea of what 
St. Paul meant when he said, ''Eye hath not seen 
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart 
of man the things which God hath prepared for 
them that love Him. But God hath revealed 
them unto us by His Spirit." Blessed are the poor 
in spirit, for the present life and powers of the 
Kingdom are theirs! 

Fourthly, the future is theirs. The poor in 
spirit possess not only things present, but things to 
come. They receive a hundred-fold here; Christ 
Himself is the hundred-fold, but eternity will be 
nothing but the prolongation of the same bliss. It 
is a Kingdom that shall have no end. Under the 
illumination of the Holy Spirit those who possess 
the Kingdom may gaze down the vista of eternal 
ages and see the infinite possibilities of spiritual 
growth and development. Oh, the thrilling visions 
of the New Kingdom! Rosy dreams of spiritual 
wealth beckon us on! Blessed are the poor in 
spirit, for eternal progress is theirs ! 

Fifthly, the joys and delights of the Kingdom are 
theirs. The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of joy 
— the joy of fellowship with the saints on earth and 



24 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

with the angels in heaven. The joy of spreading 
the Kingdom of God on earth belongs to those who 
possess the Kingdom. The supreme function of 
those who see and enjoy spiritual things is to tell 
others what they know. After the Master had 
finished His Sermon on the Mount He descended to 
the valley, and the first thing He did was to heal a 
leper. There is always a leper at the bottom of the 
mount waiting for the real touch of human sympathy 
and love. The world to-day is waiting for the 
living word of testimony from men who have seen 
the interior of the Kingdom. The Kingdom of 
God is a Kingdom of service. The world to-day 
needs men who can describe with a power born of 
experience the glories of the Kingdom of God. A 
loving description of the interior, a description of 
the heart of Jesus, is the only thing that will create 
a thirst for spiritual things. 

The real seer will be bold and invincible. Even in 
the greatest difficulties he will be calm, for he knows 
that the wealth, the power, and the King of the 
New Kingdom are beside him; so he can say, '' Lord, 
open their eyes that they might see." Only those 
who possess the Kingdom have a right to offer it 
to others. Oh, the thrilling joy of being instru- 
mental in saving others and bringing them into the 
Kingdom, and placing them as resplendent trophies 
at the King's feet! 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE NEW OUTLOOK. 

THE poor in spirit live and move in the realm 
of spiritual realities. From the lofty peak 
of the New Kingdom they see the world in 
a new light. To those who live in the interior of 
the New Kingdom all things become new. Old 
things have passed away. Just as a clear sky makes 
a bright and cheerful earth, so a new heaven makes 
a new earth. 

It is the new conception of the value of earthly 
things that generates the virtue of meekness. Those 
who enjoy the unfading glory and delights of the 
New Kingdom know how to rightly estimate tem- 
poral things, and for that reason they will not resent 
injuries or assume an arrogant position in relation 
to others. Their meekness is based on spiritual 
knowledge. It is because they firmly grasp eternal 
realities that they know how to rightly estimate 
the fleeting and perishable goods of earth. Thus 



26 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

the virtue of meekness is so related to the virtue 
of poverty of spirit that the one may be said to 
grow out of the other. The one proves the reaHty 
of the other. Poverty of spirit looks upward to 
God, meekness looks downward to man. The first 
is a recognition of the rights of God, the second has 
a blessing for man. The first rectifies all false 
conceptions as to what we are, and have, in rela- 
tion to God; the second deals a death blow to per- 
sonal pride in relation to man. 

The virtue of meekness is a sign of spiritual health. 
It co-ordinates and regulates all the faculties of 
soul and body. It is the link that binds the outward 
and inward aspects of life. It holds in check 
the irascible part of the soul. It is therefore a sign 
of spiritual health and strength. 

Meekness should never be confounded with mere 
softness of character, or want of spirit, or insensi- 
bility. It is not a mere timidity of character that 
shrinks from conflict because it is afraid to fight. 

The New Kingdom is the realm of amplification 
and intensification. Grace does not destroy our 
natural powers, but it strengthens and develops 
them. 

As we look down the corridor of the ages, we see 
men that were naturally quick and fiery, harsh 
rather than gentle, aggressive rather than yielding, 
men of strong will and independent character, 



THE NEW OUTLOOK. 27 

becoming conspicuous for their meekness. Their 
meekness was the result of strength and not of 
weakness. Such meekness is a growth of the New 
Kingdom. It is the result of personal union with 
the King. They were gentle in His gentleness 
and strong in His strength. '' Thou hast given them 
the shield of salvation, and Thy gentleness hath 
made mu great.'' 2 Sam. XXII. 36. 

The virtue of meekness is essential to enduring 
firmness of character. People who have only natu- 
ral force of character are liable to be strong, and 
perhaps overbearing in little things, and yet yield 
when eternal principles are at stake. But the meek 
of the New Kingdorh, who view the world from God's 
standpoint, yield readily in things which concern 
themselves, but they stand like an adamantine rock 
in a mighty torrent when the glory of God is con- 
cerned. 

The most heroic servants of God in the Old Testa- 
ment were noted for their meekness; gentle as 
little children in non-essentials, but invincible when 
the honor of God was at stake. Thus meekness has 
two sides — active and passive. Both aspects are the 
result of the same vivid faith. 

Now, our Lord says, ''Blessed are the meek, for 
they shall inherit the earth." This means that the 
man who out of loyalty to God's will gives up his 
own claim without any attempt at self -vindication, 



28 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

is sure in the end to get what God in His providence 
intended him to have. 

The Beatitude of the meek is a quotation from 
the thirty-seventh Psalm, and it is worthy of note 
that it is the only quotation from the Old Testament 
in the chain of the Beatitudes. The Psalm from 
which the quotation is made will help us to under- 
stand the meaning of the Beatitude. 

The quotation is from Psalm XXXVII. ii : '' But 
the meek shall inherit the earth.'' The whole Psalm 
is an exhortation to meekness and patience under 
trial, especially the trial of the unjust exultation of 
the wicked. The Psalm begins with the words, '' Fret 
not thyself because of evildoers." The word '' fret '' 
literally means ''heat." "Heat not thyself because 
of evildoers." The phrase ''inherit the land" is 
repeated over and over again, like important notes 
of music in a long piece, which recall and embody 
the "motive" of the whole. David is an example 
of the truth of his own words. It was God's will 
that he should be King ; he was anointed by Samuel, 
nevertheless he did not assert his claim. He was 
persecuted and banished, and yet he never lifted 
his hand against Saul, even when he had the power 
to do so. David possessed the staying power which 
is sure to win in the end. The man who resigns all 
to God, and who is content to leave all in God's 
hands, in the end enters into his inheritance. Great 



THE NEW OUTLOOK. 29 

is the power of meekness. "Trust in the Lord and 
do good, and dwell in the land/' Thus in the light 
of the Psalm from which our Lord quotes, we under- 
stand the meaning of the Beatitude. 

Abraham is another conspicuous example of the 
same truth. He was so meek that he could not 
bear any contention between his own herdsmen and 
those of Lot. '' Let there be no strife,'' he said. He 
yielded his own rights for the sake of peace. It was 
immediately after he had made this sacrifice that 
God told him, ''AH the land that thou seest will I 
give to thee and to thy seed forever." Thus what 
he gave up by meekness he received as an inherit- 
ance. From the beginning God has given the 
inheritance to the meek, and will do so to the end. 
The song that has rolled down the ages — ''He hath 
put down the mighty from their seat and hath 
exalted the humble and meek," is as true to-day 
as ever it was. 

But there is another sense in which the meek 
inherit the earth. It may be said that they alone 
inherit this life who enjoy it, understand it, and 
profit by it. The nature of the spiritual man is 
grandly comprehensive. He comprehends, as no 
one else can, the beauties of earth and sky and sea. 
The earth is full of God's benediction. All the 
circumstances and conditions of life are fraught with 
blessings and benefits which address themselves to 



30 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

our various needs, and to every department of our 
nature — physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual. 

It is the meek who live in the realm of the New 
Kingdom that really inherit the Kingdom of Nature. 
Thus, the new heaven makes a new earth. The new 
uplook gives us a brighter outlook. 

The difference between the outlook of the ''spirit- 
ual" and the ''natural" man is analogous to the 
difference between the civilized traveler and the 
uncivilized occupant of a new country. 

Take for instance the Indians that once occupied 
this land. They dwelt here, but they did not inherit 
the land. They did not appreciate the value of 
its soil, or the metallic treasures of its mountains. 
They merely occupied the land, but they did not 
possess it. Now, if this be true in relation to the 
physical blessings of the earth, how much more 
true in regard to the moral lessons which the child 
of God can learn from the circumstances of life, and 
the harmonious arrangement of the physical world. 
Now, just as the savage cannot appreciate the 
treasures of a beautiful country, so even men of 
the most cultivated intellect, who study the wonder- 
ful arrangement of the physical world, fail to grasp- 
the lessons which God intended man to learn. The 
pride of their intellect prevents them from hearing the 
music of nature which is ringing in their ears. The 
meek alone inherit the land. They alone see God's- 



THE NEW OUTLOOK. 3I 

goodness and power and majesty in nature. To 
them every tree is a poem and every flower an 
anthem of praise. The temple of nature is open 
to the meek. They enter in and enjoy the land. 
The poor in spirit have a new heaven, the meek a 
new earth. To the meek the world is a possession 
and a home. Whatever in earth or sky or sea, 
that has joy and delight and profit to give, yields 
them to the meek. Thus from Zion's lofty towers, 
the poor in spirit survey the wonders of the King- 
dom of Grace, and from the same summit the meek 
look on the wonders of nature. 



CHAPTER V. 

CONSOLATION IN SORROW. 

ONLY the poor in spirit who possess the New 
Kingdom, and the meek who inherit the 
earth, can understand the Beatitude of 
mourning. To the ears of flesh and blood it is the 
most paradoxical of all the Beatitudes. It is the 
one that arouses the most active resentment of the 
world. It seems to cut it to the quick. The world 
may admit that there is some benefit in poverty of 
spirit, and in meekness, but it cannot understand 
how there can be happiness in sorrow ; and yet those 
who live near the King know that there is no truer 
Beatitude than this. 

Only those who live in the interior of the Kingdom 
tmderstand this virtue, and the motive from which 
it springs. In this Beatitude, as in all the others, the 
blessing lies in the virtue itself. The sorrow itself 
contains the seeds of its own benediction. 

The fact that the Beatitudes are the permanent 
laws of the New Kingdom, and that they are to be 
the characteristics of all who wish to enjoy its 



CONSOLATION IN SORROW. 33 

benedictions, is enough to prove that the mourning 
mentioned is not an emotional, transient, grief 
which soon passes away. The mourning of the 
Beatitude is the result of entering into the mind of 
Christ, and sharing His sympathy. Love is miser- 
able until it shares the sorrows, the interests, the 
plans and undertakings of the person loved. 

It is a sorrow that springs from the loving heart 
of Jesus Himself. It is essentially sorrow in 
reference to God. The more we realize the beauty 
and majesty of the King, the more thoroughly we 
realize the terrible and startling nature of sin. 
God is the end, and God is the object of godly 
sorrow, but self is the cause, and self is the object 
of mere emotional sorrow. A sense of insecurity 
or of personal loss, or a sense of condemnation or 
compunction of conscience, is the motive on which 
emotional sorrow is founded; whereas, personal 
love to God is the motive on which godly sorrow is 
founded. The one is caused by some aspect of 
self-love, the other is the result of self -conquest. 
The one is the result of a surface agitation, the other 
is the result of that peace and poise which those 
possess who live within the realm of the New 
Kingdom. 

Mourning proves its source by its effect on the 
character. By its fruit ye shall know it. Every 
time the heart beats in loving sympathy with God, 



34 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

the soul takes another step onward from the frontier 
of sin. St. Paul, in speaking of the effect of godly- 
sorrow on the soul, says: '' For behold this selfsame 
thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what 
carefulness it wrought in you; yea, what clearing 
of yourselves; yea, what indignation; yea, what 
fear; yea, what vehement desire; yea, what revenge.'* 

Thus the sorrow that springs from personal love 
to God purifies the soul, and directs it steadily 
onward. It thus becomes the groundwork of real 
spiritual progress. It springs from the very heart 
of Jesus. The more we love Him, the more we 
sorrow for sin. It grows with our growth. The 
higher we climb the mountains of the New Kingdom, 
the deeper will be our conception of the grim reality 
of sin and the more profound will be our sorrow. 

The mourning of the Beatitude does not pass 
away. It becomes a habit, a dominant note of the 
character. It is, therefore, very different from that 
pungent, emotional grief which the penitent feels 
when he first cries for mercy. But if the mourning 
of the Beatitude lacks the dash, the color, and the 
dramatic setting of emotional grief, it is more 
abiding in its power on the character. The mourn- 
ing of the Beatitude is heavenly in its source, and 
herein lies its sweetness. The more I love God, 
the more I hate sin. Thus love increases the sorrow, 
and the sorrow feeds the love. Every sigh for sin 



CONSOLATION IN SORROW. 35 

intensifies our love, and the increase of divine love 
in the soul increases our sorrow. Oh, the bliss of 
mourning ! Thus godly sorrow yields the consolation 
of perpetual joy — '' Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing/' 

There is another sense in which the virtue of 
mourning brings its own blessedness. It emanci- 
pates the soul from the hampering dominion of the 
emotions. It makes the emotions the willing 
servants, and not the masters, of the soul. 

An ocean steamer affords an excellent illustration 
of the way a Christian who lives under the dominion 
of godly sorrow uses emotional sensations. For 
instance, when the wind is favorable she spreads 
her canvas to steady herself, and sometimes to 
quicken her pace, by catching the gusts of wind. 
But when the wind is against her, she pushes on 
just the same. Onward, ever onward, she goes 
to her destined port, through calm, through storm, 
through blinding sleet and starless night. Whether 
the wind and passing circumstances be with or 
against her she pushes steadily onward ; because she 
possesses, in steam and electricity, the dynamic 
power that enables her to triumph over the difficul- 
ties of nature. 

This is a picture of the real liberty and power of 
the soul that triumphs over the emotions. It 
possesses the power to push on in spite of difficulties. 
The emotions are splendid servants, but poor 



36 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

masters. The people who live in the region either 
of emotional sorrow, or joy, are the flotsam and 
jetsam of the Christian life, tossed about by every 
wind. They do not see the heart of things; they 
see the symbol, but not the symbolized. It is only 
the garments and external paraphernalia, or out- 
ward trappings, of religion that affect them. They 
only see and touch the outside of things, and, 
therefore, it is only the outside of their nature that 
is affected. They are ruled by their emotions, and 
hence they are inconstant and irresolute. 

But the man who looks at the heart of things, who 
mourns for the sins of others, out of pure sympathy 
with God, has dethroned the emotions. He uses 
them, but they do not use him. If singing helps the 
soul to love God more, he uses it and thanks God 
for it; but there is no danger that such a soul will 
lose the message of the song in the singer's art. 
The same might be said of all emotional, imagina- 
tional, and sensitive aids. Let us use passing 
circumstances when they help us, but triumph over 
them when they hinder us. The virtue of mourning 
enables us to do this, and herein lies its essential 
consolation. 

The man who mourns for sin, out of pure love to 
God, possesses the dynamic of obedience in spite of 
everything, because he possesses the Holy Spirit — 
the Comforter. The power of the Holy Spirit in 



CONSOLATION IN SORROW. 37 

US is what steam and electricity are to the steamer. 
He is the spiritual voltage that enables us to push 
onward triumphantly through the stormy sea of 
the Christian life. If the emotions help us, then 
let us spread out our sails and use them; but if 
they oppose us, let us push on all the same, knowing 
— not feeling, not fancying, but knowing — that tribu- 
lation brings its own blessedness. ''Blessed are 
they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.'' 
They have the consolation of being independent of 
the emotions, and for that reason the virtue of 
mourning gives a death blow to inordinate attach- 
ment to worldly amusements. 

There is yet another sense in which mourning 
contains within itself its own blessedness. It 
transforms the common afflictions of life into 
benedictions. Nothing shows the royal influence of 
divine grace better than its power to transform the 
circumstances of life, which in themselves cause 
trouble and pain, into sources of consolation and 
joy. ''Your sorrow shall be turned into joy," is 
as true in relation to the common afflictions of our 
life, as it was in the case of the Apostles. This is 
the great triumph of Christianity. The sorrow is 
not hidden from our eyes, nor taken away, but 
sanctified and blessed, and so turned into joy. 
Finally, the mourning of the Beatitude is blessed, 
because it qualifies us to sympathize with, and help, 



38 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

those who are still living in the network of their 
own emotions. It not only spurs the soul to renew 
its efforts after holiness, but it gives great sweetness 
and tenderness to the character. This is the secret 
of the compassion of God's choicest servants. This 
is what made Jeremiah weep for the sins of others 
as if they were his own ; this is what made him cry, 
''Oh, that my head were waters and mine eyes a 
fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night 
for the slain of the daughter of my people." The 
same is true of Daniel, David, and Paul, and all of 
God's servants. Their love to God was so intense 
that they regarded the sins of others as a personal 
calamity. They wept over sinners, rescued them, 
and brought them with loving tenderness to the 
Saviour's feet. Thus compassion for the sins of 
others, and passion for souls, are so blended that 
the one feeds the other. In this, as in the other 
reasons for mourning, the sorrow contains its own 
consolation. Out of it comes the joy of being a 
soul-saver. 

Finally, the virtue of mourning helps us to under- 
stand the compassionate heart of Jesus, and to 
share His sympathy. He who had no sins of His 
own for which to weep, wept for the sins of others. 
He wept over Jerusalem, because the slaves of 
passion would not come to Him; He wept in the 
Garden over the dishonor done to God ; He wept at 



CONSOLATION IN SORROW. 39 

the grave of Lazarus over the ruin wrought 
by sin. 

In addition to these recorded instances, we may 
rest assured that He wept over the spiritual ruin of 
Judas, wept out of sympathy for the widow of 
Nain. His loving compassion knew no bounds. 
People gathered around Him to hear His words, 
and He provided for their temporal wants, because 
He wanted to save their souls. The blessed sympa- 
thizing Jesus is still the same. His blessed heart 
still vibrates between the joy of saving souls, and of 
sadness at their loss. To mourn for the sins of 
others helps us to understand the heart of Jesus, 
and share His compassion for the souls of men. 
Oh, for the touch of real sympathy, and for the 
tears of real compassion! ''Blessed," yes, thrice 
blessed, ''are they that mourn, for they shall be 
comforted." 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE FOOD OF THE SOUL. 

NOTHING reveals the source and nature of godly 
sorrow more than the way the spiritua 
mourner seeks relief. He finds relief only in 
hungering and thirsting after righteousness. 

The mourners of the world seek relief in travel, 
or amusements, or some intellectual labor. Their 
sorrow is worldly in its nature, and they seek relief 
by worldly means. But spiritual mourning is 
heavenly in its source, and therefore it seeks relief 
within the realm of spiritual things. 

To mourn for our own sins, and for the sins of 
others, out of pure love to God, creates a hunger in 
our souls for righteousness. Spiritual sorrow clari- 
fies the vision of the soul, and sharpens its spiritual 
appetite, so that it springs forward after righteous- 
ness. Righteousness is the only thing that will 
diminish sin, and promote the glory of God; it is 
therefore the only thing that will satisfy the mourn- 
ing soul. 

The terms ''hunger" and ''thirst'' indicate the 



THE FOOD OF THE SOUL. 4I 

intensity of the desire of the soul after righteousness. 
These terms were not unknown in Old Testament 
times. The Psalmist describes his intense longing 
after God by saying: '' My soul thirsteth for Thee, 
my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land 
where no water is.'* (Psalm LXIII. i.) ''As the 
hart panteth after the water brooks, so longeth my 
soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for 
God, for the living God." (Psalm XLII. 1,2.) 

To hunger after righteousness is to long for it with 
as much eagerness as a starving man longs for food. 
It also implies that righteousness is the only food 
of the soul; nothing else will satisfy it. Conflicting 
systems of philosophy have tried to satisfy the needs 
of humanity, but they have failed. The soul was 
made for God, made for righteousness, and there- 
fore God and righteousness can alone satisfy its 
hunger and thirst. He who knows what is in man 
says: ''Man cannot live by bread alone, but by 
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." 
Righteousness is as necessary to the soul as material 
bread is to the body. The written and the Living 
Word, the essential Truth, the Living Bread coming 
down from heaven, constitute the food of the soul. 
This is the food of the New Kingdom. "For the 
Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteous- 
ness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Rom. 
XIV. 17. 



42 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

The Kingdom of God is the realm of righteousness. 
The spiritual mourner lives within this realm. 
Mourning for sin spurs him on to seek more right- 
eousness. He has left the enemy's country, which 
is the realm of unrighteousness; he has turned his 
back on the frontier, and he is pressing vigorously 
on towards the interior of the land. This is the 
attitude of the man who hungers and thirsts after 
righteousness. 

In other pursuits it is the gaining of the end that 
is blessed, and not the straining after it. But in 
spiritual matters, the blessing lies just where our 
Lord places it. Aspiration after the unreached is 
what constitutes the blessedness of the Beatitude. 
It is the hunger and thirst that is blessed. For 
spiritual things are more desired the more they are 
enjoyed. They never cloy by their possession. 

In earthly things superabundance takes off the 
keen edge of enjoyment. But in spiritual things 
the more you have the more you want. A fish 
never complains of having too much water, neither 
does the Christian ever complain of having too much 
of God. 

The richness and sweetness of spiritual things are 
infinite. The Holy Spirit expands the heart and 
enlightens the eyes, and thus gives the Christian a 
keener penetration into spiritual things. The more 
he sees the more he wants. He is ever seeing more 



THE FOOD OF THE SOUL. 43 

to love, and ever learning to love more. It is of 
the very nature of love to seek to know more about 
the person loved. It is so also in the aspiration of 
the soul after righteousness. *'For he that eateth 
them shall yet be hungry, and he that drinketh 
them shall yet thirst.'' The very himger and thirst 
are a satisfaction, and yet to be satisfied is to hunger 
and thirst still more. 

Now, there are different degrees of hunger and 
thirst after righteousness, and these different degrees 
are founded on different motives. There is, for 
instance, the thirst of the prodigal, the thirst of 
the soul at a distance from God. When the light 
of conviction of sin streams in all its power on the 
soul, when conscience terrifies it, there comes by the 
mercy of God, like a ray from heaven, a hungering 
and thirsting for peace and reconciliation. 

This initial hunger contains the germ of future 
righteousness. But there is a journey before such a 
soul. The land of the enemy must be left, false 
authority must be renoimced, the desert must be 
crossed, sin must be confessed, before he can enter 
the realm of righteousness. Even in this stage, 
*' Blessed are they who hunger and thirst.'' 

But after the prodigal has been welcomed home and 
clothed with the robes of grace and restored to his 
place in the household, there arises in the soul another 
great thirst. Now this second and deeper thirst 



44 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

is generated by a different impulse, and in obedience 
to a different motive. It is a sense of insecurity 
that generates the first thirst, it is a desire to spend 
and to be spent in the Father's service that generates 
the second. 

The first thirst results in renouncing all false 
authority, the second thirst results in placing every 
faculty of soul and body at the disposal of the King 
of righteousness. Now just as there are different 
degrees of hungering and thirsting, so there are two 
kinds of righteousness : imputed and imparted. The 
first comes in response to the first thirst. When 
the sinner realizes his own sinfulness, when he segre- 
gates himself from all others, and says, ''I have 
sinned, and I hunger and thirst after righteousness,'' 
when he struggles towards the cross and exercises 
faith in the spotless Lamb of God, and says, ''Jesus 
died for me; Father, forgive me," then God de- 
livers him from the guilt of the past. This is what 
is meant by imputed righteousness. Personal faith 
in Christ is counted for righteousness. Rom. IV. 5. 

The justification of a sinner is the greatest act 
that God can do for man. It is no wonder that a 
torrent of love fills the penitent's heart when he 
realizes that his past sins have been swept away, and 
that he stands justified before God, through faith 
in the precious blood of Christ. Imputed righteous- 
ness, then, is that which is done for us. 



THE FOOD OF THE SOUL. 45 

Imparted righteousness, on the other hand, is 
that which is done in us. Christ is the meritorious 
cause of both. ''He is made unto us wisdom and 
righteousness and sanctification and redemption." 
I Cor. I. 30. 

Thus to hunger after righteousness is to hunger 
after Christ. He is the essential food of the soul. 
Without Him we can neither live nor grow. 

To hunger after Christ is a sign of spiritual health. 
To assimilate our natural food, nothing more is 
needed than to be in a good, healthy condition. 
Then food supports, strengthens, gladdens, and 
develops us. It is so in the spiritual life. 

The spiritual life begins when the Holy Spirit 
unites us to the True Vine. And just as a tree grows 
from its seed and not from any increase of energy 
from without, so the soul grows through its union 
with the True Vine. Spiritual growth is, then, the 
result of internal assimilation and not of external 
imitation. 

All who live in the interior of the New Kingdom 
eat the same spiritual food, they are united to the 
same Vine, they all live the same life. By eating 
the same food they are transformed into the same 
image, and they love the same things. 

This is the secret of the union of the ''Inner 
Circle.'' Eating the same spiritual food breaks 
down all barriers to perfect sympathy and peace. 



46 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

In the center of the New Kingdom, the children 
of the Beatitudes from', /the four quarters of the 
globe meet in holy fellowship, because they all eat 
of the same spiritual meat and drink of the same 
spiritual drink. 

Feeding on Christ is the tie that binds our hearts 
in Christian love. In the interior of the Kingdom 
there is no distinction of ''classes'' or ''masses,'' 
no distinction between Jew or Greek, bond or free, 
but Christ is all and in all. Feeding on Christ so 
dilates the heart and so enlarges the soul, that to 
be filled is to hunger for more. Thus, hunger co- 
exists with fulness. This is the blessed paradox 
of the spiritual life. 

Christ longs to give Himself^to us in all His blessed 
fulness. He is still saying, "Take, eat." "He 
satisfieth the longing soul and fiUeth the hungry soul 
with goodness." His presence expands the soul, 
and spurs it on to seek more righteousness. The 
more we know of Christ, the more passionately we 
crave for Him. Thus, with our backs toward the 
Frontier and our faces toward the Interior of the 
Kingdom, and our souls filled with food Divine, 
we can say: "I will run the way of Thy com- 
mandments when Thou hast* enlarged my heart." 
" Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after 
righteousness, for they shall be filled.' 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE FRUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

IN the order of Divine grace, personal must precede 
social righteousness, for what we do is the 
result of what we are. The inflowing of life 
from the True Vine into the soul so fills and expands 
the life that it bears fruit in outward action. Thus 
the roots of mercy are hidden in the True Vine. 
The branches and the Vine are so united that the 
branches simply manifest the life of the Vine. 

Those who are filled with righteousness are so 
tied together with God that an act of mercy may 
be said to be the result of their united activity. 
Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness 
are impelled to do so by a twofold motive: a 
desire to be like Christ, and a desire to be the 
means through which Christ can express Himself in 
their daily conduct. Mercy is Christ expressing 
Himself through human lives. It is the result of a 
joint act, and herein lies the essential difference 
between an act of mercy and an act of human 
kindness. 



48 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

In the New Kingdom every act is the result of 
co-operation. No one liveth unto himself within 
its borders. The language of the Kingdom is not 
'*!," but ''we'' and ''us." Co-operation with the 
King is essential. It is the motive from which an 
act springs that determines its value. 

Every act proceeds either from the co-operative 
or unit principle. All men live tmder the dominion 
of either one or the other of these principles. Those 
who live under the dominion of the unit principle 
thirst for gold, for wealth, for power — everyone for 
himself. Hence they jostle each other, tell com- 
petitive lies, use false weights and spurious wares, 
in order to accumulate personal gain. But those 
who live under the dominion of the co-operative 
principle, who are united to the King, thirst to be 
like Him, thirst to diminish sin and misery by 
showing mercy to all around them. Thus, the 
righteousness of the Kingdom, manifested in human 
life, is the only permanent cure for all our social 
and commercial troubles. If the principles of the 
Beatitudes were carried out in daily life, they would 
heal the wounds of society without altering its 
organization. 

Mercy, as a practical element in society and 
flowing from a life of union with God, was unknown 
before the Incarnation. The Jews, indeed, prac- 
tised mercy, but their mercy was based on precepts 



THE FRUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 49 

and commandments rather than an outflow of a 
new life in the soul. Mercy flowing from a new life 
within is the result of the Incarnation. The 
Incarnation itself is the outflow of love. Our Lord's 
Mission was essentially a mission of mercy. He 
became Man in order that the Manhood which He 
took upon Himself might become the instrument of 
mercy to mankind. 

The parable of the Good Shepherd, hurrying 
across valleys and hills to overtake the lost sheep, 
is but a vivid picture of the Incarnation. Christ 
still seeks the lost sheep. He gives Himself in His 
fulness to those who hunger and thirst after 
righteousness in order that He, through them, 
might still '*go about doing good.'' 

Thus the mercy of the Beatitude is the mercy of 
Christ reappearing in the lives of His followers. 
This is why the exercise of mercy is so dear in the 
sight of God. The heart of the King must have 
thrilled with joy when the time came for Him to 
utter this Beatitude. 

The place the virtue of mercy occupies in the 
chain of the Beatitudes helps us to understand its 
nature. It is the fruit, the summing up, the crown, 
of all the preceding Beatitudes. The Kingdom of 
Christ is the realm of mercy. Mercy is the charac- 
teristic badge of all His followers. Divine mercy 
never fails. Human kindness is often the result of 



50 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

impulse, it is founded on the shifting sand of human 
circumstances ; but the virtue of mercy is as rehable 
as the Divine Life from which it springs: it is 
founded on the Rock of Ages. 

The poor in spirit who have renounced selfishness 
and the meek who curb the passions, and those who 
mourn for sin, yearn for more righteousness in 
order that they may become instruments of Divine 
mercy to mankind. There is no selfishness in the 
New Kingdom. Each citizen seeks his own highest 
and fullest development for the good of the King- 
dom. This was the spirit that animated the King 
when on earth. In His great intercessory prayer, 
He says, ''For their sakes I sanctify myself.'' To 
thirst after rig^hteousness in order to become an 
instrument of mercy is not selfishness, but self- 
regard for the J^ake of others. Every one in the 
New Kingdom merges his own life, his hopes, his 
sorrows, his interests, and his joys in those of his 
fellow-citizens. The law of service runs through 
the Kingdom. The King gives Himself to us, in 
order that we might be a people for His own posses- 
sion, zealous of good works. Self-seeking is incom- 
patible with service in the New Kingdom. Mercy 
springs from the heart of Christ, and herein it 
differs essentially from mere human kindness. 
Human kindness, though capable of great sacri- 
fices, yet springs from the unit principle. Divine 



THE FRUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 5 1 

mercy proves its sotirce by its characteristic 
marks. 

Divine mercy is comprehensive and universal. 
''His mercies are over all His works.'' Himian 
kindness is often the result of impulse. It is 
generally confined to a narrow circle of friends. 
But Divine mercy extends to all. Human kindness 
seeks attractive objects, but Divine mercy seeks 
the most unlovely objects with a view to transform 
them into loveliness. 

Divine mercy is spontaneous, free, and constant. 
Human love can be powerfully moved at the sight 
of sorrow and misery. Henry Ward Beecher, by 
causing a slave girl to stand by his side in the 
pulpit, raised over a thousand dollars to redeem 
her, when perhaps a plain statement of the case, 
without the object lesson, would have failed. But 
Divine Mercy never fails. It seeks for objects. 
''When we sat in darkness and in the shadow of death 
the Day Spring from on high visited us." The 
''Visit'' of the Day Spring meant sacrifice ; it meant 
giving Himself to the last drop of blood. The 
enduring character of His mercy is expressed in 
the words: " He loved His own, and He loved them 
unto the end." 

He still gives Himself to us in order that mercy 
may be an enduring note of our character. Christ 
in us compels us to act. Divine mercy seeks poverty 



52 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

in obscure retreats and burns to send the Gospel to 
the heathen. I have known people to go out to 
seek for sorrow with a view to relieve it, and to 
return overflowing with joy. Blessed are the 
merciful! By exercising mercy they find more 
mercy, and so the heart swells with joy. The 
virtue of mercy can never be exercised without 
thinking of God. It comes from God, and it proves 
its heavenly birth by flying back to God. The 
essential thing in an act of mercy is for us to give 
ourselves. By giving ourselves to relieve the 
physical or spiritual wants of men, we participate 
in the work of Jesus in the redemption of the world. 
Mercy is the best pioneer of the Kingdom. It 
prepares the way for Divine grace. When every 
appeal fails, an act of real kindness, flowing fresh 
and warm from the heart of Jesus, often wins. The 
majority of solid conversions can be traced to 
some delicate act of kindness. Mercy may be 
exercised by congratulation in joy, as much as by 
compassion in sorrow. The essential thing in an 
act of mercy is to give ourselves, give our heart by 
love, our hand for service, our tongue for instruction, 
our joy for congratulation, and our consolation for 
sorrow. To such our Lord says: ''Give, and it 
shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed 
down, and shaken together, and running over, shall 
men give into your bosom.'' This passage shows 



THE FRUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 53 

that an act of mercy brings its own reward. It 
returns to the bosom where it started. Thus 
mercy distends the soul. Self-love narrows and 
contracts the heart ; but love for others expands it. 
Notice how our Lord heaps one image upon another 
to express the blessedness of those on whom He 
sheds His loving benediction: ''Shaken together, 
pressed down, and running over!'' 

The only way to understand God is to love Him, 
and the only way to understand His mercy is to 
exercise it. Thus, by being merciful, we get to 
understand, and thus find mercy. Nothing thrills 
the heart of God so much as when we exercise 
mercy; it thrills ours, too. 

The Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of righteous- 
ness; it is the Kingdom of mercy; it is also the 
Kingdom of joy! ''There is joy in the presence of 
the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.'' 

What is this but the Blessed Trinity rejoicing 
over the triumph of mercy and inviting the angels 
to share His joy! Yes, there is joy in heaven and 
there is joy on earth. What joy or delight can 
equal that which a child of God feels when he 
brings a soul to the throne as the result of an act of 
mercy! Those who share His work share His joy, 
too! The cup is full, "running over/' 

" Blessed are the merciful!" 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE CONDITION OF THE VISION. 

THE Beatitudes are an ascending scale of virtues, 
the preceding one naturally leading the way 
to that which is to follow. Thus, works of 
mercy, which are the outflow of communion with 
God, create a thirst for the vision of God. By 
exercising the virtue of mercy, we share the work 
of God in the redemption of the world, and we 
also share His joy. Thus each act of mercy done 
for God, and in God, lifts the soul into a realm 
higher than itself, so that the soul longs to see Him. 
Thus, the vision of God is the result of all the pre- 
ceding Beatitudes. The greatest blessing that the 
human soul is capable of receiving is the blessing 
of seeing God. This is the greatest joy of the 
saints in heaven, and it is the greatest privilege 
of the saints on earth. The mode of seeing God 
here and hereafter is very different, as we shall 
see presently, but the condition of the vision 
is the same. *' Without holiness no man shall see 
the Lord." Our power to see and enjoy God de- 



THE CONDITION OF THE VISION. 55 

pends on our moral condition. Our Lord says: 
"'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see 
God." In these words He is declaring one of the 
unalterable laws of the New Kingdom. 

Now, in this Beatitude, as in all the others, there 
is a twofold blessing, as well as various degrees of 
the virtue and its reward. Heart purity is a blessing 
in itself, and it is blessed also in its result, which is 
the vision of God. A certain degree of moral 
cleanliness is necessary in order to be in a state of 
grace. There are higher and still higher degrees 
rising one over the other until the soul, at last, stands 
before the throne clothed in all the beauty of God. 
And just as there are different degrees of heart purity, 
•so there are different degrees in the vision of God. 
Some day we shall be like Him in His ineffable purity ; 
then "We shall see Him as He is." One thing is 
evident, and that is, the vision of God to the soul 
depends upon the condition of the heart. The heart 
must be pure in order to see God. 

The ''heart" in this Beatitude stands for the 
whole interior man, the soul, with all its faculties of 
intelligence and volition. It includes the memory, 
which retains the knowledge of the past ; the reason, 
or intellect, which compares and reflects, and the 
will, which decides and resolves. It also embraces 
the affections, the feelings, the emotions, and the 
imagination. 



56 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

The heart, then, stands for the whole man, and 
the Hfe of the heart is his true Hfe. It is capable of 
great corruption, and, thank God! through the 
precious blood of Jesus Christ, it is capable of the 
most sublime purity and activity. Christ demands 
heart purity. Mere ceremonial purity will not do. 
The Pharisees were thinking of ceremonial purity 
only when they found fault with the disciples for 
eating with unwashed hands. 

It was in answer to their objection that our 
Lord gave an enumeration of the evils and 
miseries which have their birth in the heart. Mark 

VII. 21. 

The heart is never at rest. It is always at work, 
like the weaver at a loom. The shuttle is always 
going, and the woof is always growing ; so it is with 
the heart. God gave us our heart, and all that it 
implies. He gave us our will, our intellect, our 
reason, our affections, and our imagination. We 
are responsible for the use we have made of them. 
We are responsible for the moral texture of our 
inward life. 

When we think of the continual action of the 
unregenerate heart, and what a tale it is continually 
telling before God, and that God has reserved to 
Himself the prerogative of reading its every motion, 
what ground there is for alarm. On the other hand, 
there is nothing in the whole world capable of such 



THE CONDITION OF THE VISION. 57 

perfect beauty, and sublime fertility as a pure 
heart. When the memory is purged from the sins 
of the past, when the imagination is peopled with 
images of all that is beautiful and holy, when the 
intellect is ransomed from the blindness caused by 
sin (Rom. I. 21), v/henit is delivered from ignorance, 
and flooded with light, through the indwelling of the 
Holy Spirit, when the will is freed from all perversity, 
and fixed on God alone, then, indeed, the heart of 
man becomes a garden of delight and the abode of 
the Blessed Trinity. St. John XIV. 23. 

A heart fit for the dwelling-place of God must be 
cleansed from the poisonous weeds, and deadly 
growth of sin, through the precious blood of Jesus 
Christ. The spiritual beauties and glories of a' clean 
heart are dearer in the sight of God than all the 
material universe. Sin darkens, impairs and stimts 
every faculty of the soul. Purity, on the other hand, 
brings liberty, security, peace, and keenness of 
vision to the soul. Thus purity is a blessing in itself, 
for it fertilizes every faculty of the mind. 

Swedenborg uttered a profound truth when he 
said: "The wicked only see blackness where the 
sun is." Thomas a Kempis says: ''A pure heart 
penetrateth heaven and hell. ' ' The more the glasses 
of the telescope are cleansed, the brighter the stars 
appear to the gazer. It is so in relation to the purg- 
ing of the eye of the soul. Our capacity to see God 



53 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

is in proportion to our purgation from sin. '' With- 
out holiness no man can see God." Our Lord says: 
^* Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see 
God." As the eye is made for light, so the heart is 
made for God. A slight wound in the eye destroys 
its power of vision, or a mere mote may make it 
useless. But when the mote is removed, and the 
wound healed, the eye comes at once into the use 
of its natural power of seeing material things in their 
true light. 

It is so with the purification of the soul. Sin is 
an impediment between the soul and God ; when sin 
is purged, the darkness is removed, and the soul is 
able to see God. God is not far away from ''every 
one of us" (Acts XVII. 27); sin alone obscures 
the vision. Now, there are several ways in which 
the pure soul may see God: 

1. In His Word. 

Under the illumination of the Holy Spirit the 
purified soul finds in every page of the written Word 
new disclosures of the heart of God. 

The Bible is in the hands of everybody, and yet 
some read it and never understand it; others again 
understand it at once. The natural man reads 
the letter, but the pure in heart, who trust to the 
guidance of the Holy .Spirit, look through the letter 
to its spiritual meaning. They see God in His Word. 

2. In His Providence. 



THE CONDITION OF THE VISION. 59 

The great drama of history looms up with a new 
meaning to the pure in heart. They see Him in the 
rise and fall of nations. They see Him also in His 
providential dealings with individuals. Thus the 
history of the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles 
becomes so many new revelations of love. 

What is historically true of the past is also true 
of the present. God watches over us. We can see 
Him in the sorrows and joys, in the troubles and 
consolations of life. To the pure in heart the most 
trivial things of life are pregnant with meaning, for 
they give a new glimpse of God's providential care. 
Every sorrow has its place, every joy its meaning, 
and every new acquaintance is a part of God's 
plan. Thus the pure see God in the little, as well 
as in the great, things of life. ''To the pure the 
ways of the Lord are right, the laws of the Lord 
are good." 

3. In Nature. 

To the pure in heart the universe is an anthem 
of praise. It is a reflection of God's glory. The 
book of nature is open to all, but it yields its inner 
meaning only to the pure in heart. Sometimes men 
desecrate God's blessed day, on the pretext that 
they can worship God in nature. How can a 
man, in the very act of violating a positive 
Divine commandment, see God in nature? As in 
Revelation, so in nature — only those ''who have 



60 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

clean hands and pure hearts can ascend the hill of 
the Lord/^ 

Thus, the pure in heart see reflections of God in 
His Word, in Providence, and in Nature. These are 
reflections of God ; but the glory of God is seen only in 
Jesus Christ. '' But we all, with open face beholding 
as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into 
the same image from glory to glory, even as by the 
Spirit of the Lord.'' 2 Cor. IIL 18. 

Thus the pure in heart see the glory of God in the 
unveiled face of Jesus Christ. The vision, of course, 
has its necessary limitations. It is limited to our 
present powers of perception. There are two laws 
of vision which fix the boundary of our present 
knowledge. 

First, we see by faith, and secondly, as in a glass. 
By faith we gaze on the full-orbed mystery which 
inspired seers. Prophets, and Apostles. There is no 
past or future to faith. By faith we see God creating 
the world ; by faith we see Jesus as plainly as if we 
were present with Mary Magdalene at the foot of 
the cross ; by faith we see Jesus on the throne, and 
by faith we enjoy the Beatific Vision. Thus, to 
faith, things past, present, and future are a great 
eternal now! Only the cleansed soul can thus see 
eternal things. 

Then, we see as in a glass — not through a glass, 
as by means of a telescope looking directly at an 



THE CONDITION OF THE VISION. 6l 

object; but as in a mirror, the object itself not being 
seen. As in a lucid dewdrop we see the image of 
the sun, or as in a clear lake we see the sky, the 
mountain and the passing clouds, and, as it were, 
another world, while yet it is but a reflection of the 
world looking down upon the water, so, in outward 
things, and in our own inward consciousness, we see 
God imaged before the mind's eye. 

Now, these two modes of vision are prophetic. 
Some day we shall see Him face to face. Yes, 
some day we shall see the Form of Jesus, in whose 
glorified body the fulness of the Godhead bodily 
dwells. The promise is, '' We shall see the King in 
His beauty. '^ Isa. XXXHI. 17. The beauty of the 
King can be nothing less than the Light of the Eternal 
Godhead shining through the perfected Manhood of 
Jesus Christ. Thus we shall see Him face to face, 
and eye to eye ; gazing, we shall see and know that 
He is ours and that He looks on us as His own. Even 
here, whilst we see by faith and behold Him as in a 
glass, we become more and more like Him. As we 
gaze we are transformed into His likeness. Thus 
there is an ever-increasing reciprocal action going 
on between the vision and our spiritual growth. It 
is said that sunlight kills malarial germs; so the 
vision of God kills everything that is alien to Him, 
and develops everything that is akin to Him. The 
apple grows by assimilating the sunshine, and, by 



62 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

growing, it is able to take in more sunshine. It is- 
so with the soul. Its language is: Let me see 
more, that I might be more, and be more, that I might 
see more ! Thus, by beholding, we are transformed 
into the same image from glory to glory, until we 
become reflectors of His glory to others. 

The beauty of Jesus is inexhaustible. It is 
kaleidoscopic, unsearchable, unending. Always 
something new. A new Epiphany every day. The 
internal manifestations of Christ here prepare the 
soul for the exceeding weight of glory yet to come. 
The vision here may be compared to the light of the 
moon, but the Beatific Vision will be the blazing 
forth of the noonday sun: ''Blessed are the pure 
in heart, for they shall see God !'' 



CHAPTER IX. 

RADIATORS OF PEACE. 

^TOTHING short of heart purity can restore 
/\ security and perfect peace to the human 
soul. We use the word "restore" advisedly, 
for human nature as God made it was in a condition 
of perfect peace and harmony. When God placed 
man in the Garden of Eden there was not a hint 
of discord. Then man, in all the completeness of 
his being, found complete satisfaction and perfect 
peace in union and communion with God. There 
was no schism then in the human constitution. The 
whole man, consisting of body, soul, and spirit, 
lived and moved in beautiful harmony. 

The name given by theologians to the first sin is 
very significant. It is called ''a fall.'' Thus, sin 
is a disturbance of harmony. It not only disturbs 
the relation between the soul and God, but it 
wrecks and ruins human nature itself. Sin does 
not belong to human nature; it is not natural to 
man. The fact that we cannot be happy in sin is 
an evidence of this. Ever since "the fall'' man's 



64 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

nature has been at discord with itself. Even in 
the midst of great bodily gratification the soul may 
be perfectly miserable. The only way to restore 
peace is to restore harmony. Peace and happiness 
are the music of the soul, and they are the result 
of perfect harmony. Perfect harmony is perfect 
peace. Essentially, heaven is nothing more than the 
soul and God perfectly united, and hell is nothing 
more than the soul and God eternally separated. 
Heaven is a state of eternal peace, tranquillity, and 
order; hell, on the other hand, is ''a land of dark- 
ness, as darkness itself ; and of the shadow of death 
without any order." Job X. 22. 

Now, the only way to secure peace is to get rid of 
sin; for sin is the disturbance of harmony. The 
grim reality of sin has to be dealt with. It stands 
as a lion between the soul and God; it rises up 
before it as a wall of brass. ''There is no peace, 
saith my God, to the wicked." There can be no 
peace between sin and holiness, between darkness 
and light, between truth and falsehood, between 
beauty and deformity. Nothing defiled can enter 
into God's presence. But when a man turns his 
back on all known sin, and his face to God, and 
exercises faith in the precious blood of Jesus Christ, 
then the Holy Spirit, with His own penetrating 
and vivifying power, cleanses the soul and restores 
it to communion with God. There is now no 



RADIATORS OF PEACE. 65 

condemnation, for harmony has been restored. 
The peace that follows cleansing is Paradise restored, 
and a foretaste of the bliss of heaven. 

Now, when the hindrances and limitations caused 
by sin are removed, the soul leaps forward to new 
fields of usefulness and to new spheres of action. 
The new work that opens before the cleansed soul 
is the work of making peace. Now, in order to 
understand the essential blessedness of this new 
work, we must inquire into the nature of the peace 
mentioned in the Beatitude. There are different 
degrees of the virtue of peace, as is the case with all 
the other virtues of the Beatitudes. There is an 
initial peace, which is the result of justification, and 
a deeper and richer peace, which is the result of the 
indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul 
alludes to the first when he says: ''Therefore, being 
justified by faith, we have peace with God, through 
our Lord Jesus Christ,'' Rom. V. i; and to the 
second in Phil. IV. 7: ''And the peace of God, 
which passeth all tmderstanding, shall keep your 
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.'' The peace 
of God is superadded to "peace with God." 

It is a blessed thing to have peace with God. It 
is like entering a haven of rest after a most terrific 
storm. It brings a sense of rest from the accusations 
of a guilty conscience. But the peace of God is the 
calm and tranquillity of God Himself dwelling in us 



66 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM, 

through the Holy Spirit. It is only those who have 
gotten clear of the remains of sin, and who enjoy 
the vision of God, that possess this deeper and 
richer peace. 

Now, as there are various degrees of peace, so 
there are various degrees of reward. The peace of 
justification carries with it the great privilege of 
sonship. All who accept Him have power to become 
sons of God. John I. 12. But God has millions 
of sons who have never risen to the dignity of 
sharing in the work of making peace. By the grace of 
regeneration they are recognized in heaven as the 
children of God. With many the secret remains 
there. But those who possess the deeper peace are 
engaged in a work which proclaims them the sons 
of God in the eyes of men and angels. The peace- 
makers are engaged in the same work that Jesus came 
to do, and therefore the very work proclaims them 
to be His brethren. It is in this sense we under- 
stand the words: '' Blessed are the peacemakers, for 
they shall be called the sons of God.'' 

Now, the virtue of peacemaking is something 
infinitely higher and deeper than merely patching 
up human quarrels. The peacemakers make peace 
because they are what they are. The peace of God 
reigning in their hearts and controlling their every 
movement makes them radiators of peace to all 
around them. The peace of God, and the joy 



RADIATORS OF PEACE. 67 

which it generates, give them an almost tmconscious 
power to spread around them their own peace and 
joy. Just as the mighty and eternal peacefulness 
of God Himself is reflected in creation, and in every- 
thing He does, so the peacemaker reflects his own 
inner calm on everything he does, and in everything 
he says. No man can be a peacemaker, in this 
sense, till peace rules and fills his heart, and peace 
can never rule the heart till the roots from which 
all discord springs have been removed. The peace 
of the pure in heart is anchored upon the vision of 
God, and, therefore, it is too high for earthly events 
to disturb its serenity. Poverty cannot disturb the 
poor in spirit, contempt cannot disturb the meek, 
sorrow cannot disturb those who find consolation in 
tears, and affliction cannot disturb those who 
hunger after more conformity to God's will. There 
can be no doubt, therefore, of the reality of the 
perfect peace of the peacemakers. It is the result 
of all the preceding Beatitudes : It is only those who 
possess peace can radiate peace to others. To be 
full of peace is to be full of happiness. Thus the 
Beatitude contains within itself the seed of its own 
benediction. The very possession of this peace 
reveals the Divine kinship of the peacemakers. A 
man calm in the calmness of God reminds people of 
God. Our Lord says: ''They shall be called the 
sons of God." 



68 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

In the language of the Bible, to say that a person 
shall be called this or that is the same thing as to 
say he shall be so, and that the person shall be 
known to be what the name denotes. Thus it is 
used by the angel : '' The Holy Thing which shall be 
born of thee shall be called the Son of God." The 
promise, then, of the Beatitude is that the peace- 
makers shall be in a special manner the sons of God. 
All justified people are the adoptive sons of God; 
it is the privilege communicated to them in regener- 
ation. The fulness of the Divine Sonship belongs to 
the only begotten Son of God Himself. We must 
therefore look for some special reason why the 
peacemakers should be called the *'sons of God'' as 
their own title. 

They shall be known as the sons of God, because 
the work of making peace resembles the work of 
the Blessed Trinity. It is not merely the possession 
of peace that is blessed, but positive and active 
peacemaking. This is the chosen work of the 
children of God, and it is the work of God Himself. 
God is the essential and primal Peacemaker, because 
God is Himself eternal and uncreated peace. God 
is eternal peace, and yet *'He worketh hitherto.'' 
God is always working. The Son is working, and 
the Holy Ghost is working. The angels and saints 
who see His face are working. All working in the 
interest of peace. This is the result of their own 



RADIATORS OF PEACE. 69 

nature and character. Peace is the harmony and 
union of the Blessed Trinity, the fountain and 
pattern of peace to all who are not God. All 
creation reflects His peace. The reign of peace in 
the physical universe is secured by the observance 
of law. 

It is made up of an almost infinite variety and 
multitude of parts, of every conceivable nature, 
grade and kind, of an immense number of forces 
which have only to be let loose from the restraint of 
law to rusn mto confusion, conflict, and destruction. 
Everything in this vast universe sustains a deflnite 
relation to something else. God has impressed His 
own law upon ever3rthing, and upon the whole, so 
that order and peace are maintained by ptmctual 
and exact obedience to law. The whole universe is 
a great and harmonious concert of praise to Him, 
each creature and each nature fulfllling the law of 
its being, keeping in its appointed place, and supply- 
ing what God intended it to supply in the harmony 
of the whole. 

Thus the whole universe is a reflection of peace. 
The homage of the universe as such is founded upon 
peace. '' Great peace have they who love Thy law,'' 
says ^the Psalmist, and his words are as true of 
creatures in the realm of nature as in the realm of 
grace. God has given all a law which shall not be 
broken, and in doing this He acted as the Giver of 



70 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

Peace and Lover of concord. Only in the human 
realm has law been broken and the harmony marred. 
And yet so great is the peace and harmony of the 
universe, that whenever we get away from the 
turmoil of society to some lonely and uninvaded 
spot, such as a lofty mountain, or a deep valley, or 
the mighty sea, we are so tranquilized by the sight 
that the very peace of nature seems to rebuke the 
restlessness of our hearts. Thus, God is the great 
original Peacemaker. The Kingdom of the Incar- 
nation is the Kingdom of Peace. Its object is the 
restoration of peace. The angels sang a sweet song 
of peace when Jesus was born: Peace on earth, 
good will to men. '' For it pleased the Father that 
in Him should all fulness dwell, and, having made 
peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to 
reconcile all things to Himself." Col. I. 19, 20. 

Peace is the characteristic of the Kingdom of the 
Incarnation, even in a higher sense than in the realm 
of nature. Christ is the Prince of Peace. ''God of 
peace" is the title that St. Paul loves to give God. 
in his Epistle. He opens almost every Epistle with 
a salutation of peace. The sum and substance of 
the Gospel is to offer ''peace through Jesus Christ." 
Acts X. 36. The whole machinery of redemption 
has been set in motion to make peace. 

The peacemakers then become co-workers with 
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in the great work 



RADIATORS OF PEACE. 7 1 

of restoring peace. But before they can share His 
power they must first share His peace. The peace 
of God imparted to human souls by the Holy Spirit 
is the starting-point of real spiritual power. 

God is an unfathomable ocean of uncreated peace, 
and yet power streams from Him to uphold and 
vivify the whole universe. His very repose is an 
evidence of His supreme power. Those who are 
near the heart of God share His blessed repose, and 
they share His activity, too. The angels in heaven 
and the saints on earth who see His blessed face 
have the supreme joy of helping in the work of 
making peace. 

Oh, let us strive to enter into God's rest, that we 
might share His power! Heb. IV. lo. Blessed are 
they who in act and word radiate peace to others. 
They remind people of God, and thus are recognized 
as the sons of God. The Prince of Peacemakers is 
not ashamed to own such as His brethren, for He 
says: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall 
be called the sons of God.'' 



CHAPTER X. 

THE BEATITUDE OF THE PERSECUTED. 

THE fact that the Beatitude of the persecuted 
follows immediately the Beatitude of the 
peacemakers shows the nature of the peace 
which the pure in heart possess. The very alterna- 
tion from inward peace to outward tumult supplies a 
key to unlock the mystery of the last Beatitude. 

It shows that the peace of the pure in heart is 
internal in its nature. It is God's gracious calm 
in the midst of earthly agitation. It is not like the 
peace which the world tries to effect. The world 
tries to bring about outward peace. But the earthly 
peace which is sometimes proclaimed when wars 
cease often leaves a stronger internal enmity than 
before open hostilities commenced. But the peace 
of God, like everything that comes from His blessed 
hand, is solid and substantial. The enmity is de- 
stroyed, its very roots are swept away, and peace and 
joy are set up in its place. 

The peace of God is without a flaw; it penetrates 
the whole man. It is not transient, or partial, but 
universal and eternal. Christ Himself is the Prince 
of Peace ; He became Man in order to make peace. 



THE BEATITUDE OF THE PERSECUTED. 73 

The work of making peace had to be carried on in a 
medium that offered a strong resistance to His plans. 
It was the resistance of the medium in which He 
toiled that constituted His intense suffering. The 
capacity of suffering, like the capacity of joy, is in 
proportion to the fineness and delicacy of the 
spiritual nature. No htmian being can fully appreci- 
ate the capacity of Christ for suffering. But His 
peace endured the test. His majestic calmness 
in the surging sorrows of His trial and crucifixion 
has been the admiration of the ages . Christ possessed 
peace, and He came to make peace. Before His 
crucifixion He told His disciples that their peace 
would be tested by tribulation. '' In me," He says, 
''ye shall have peace, in the world ye shall have 
tribulation.'' 

The peace, then, of the pure in heart is an inward 
quiet in the midst of outward conflict. It is not 
rest from conflict, but rest in conflict, that Jesus gives. 
*'Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace whose mind 
is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.'' 
Christ says: ''My peace I give imto you." His 
first salutation after His resurrection was a special 
salutation of peace. The peace of the peacemakers, 
then, is essentially His peace. Peace is His great 
legacy to the pure in heart. The friends of earth 
leave to those who survive them earthly pos- 
sessions, perishable riches ; but Christ, the Prince of 



74 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

Peace, leaves His followers the priceless, imperish- 
able, blessing of peace. 

Now, the work of the peacemakers is to be carried 
on in the same world that crucified the Master. The 
hostility that greeted Him is to greet them. Men 
are still under the dominion of the same passions 
that brought about the condemnation and cruci- 
fixion of Jesus. The strife between good and evil 
did not end on Calvary. The world woke up on the 
morning of the first Easter Day just at it had done 
before. The world still offers a strong resistance 
to spiritual truth. Those who carry on the Master's 
work of making peace must first possess His peace. 

The elements of discord must first be expelled from 
our own hearts before we can be instrumental in 
driving them from the hearts of others. It is the 
outward conflict that proves the reality of the inward 
grace. If we share His peace, we shall share His 
endurance also. '' Blessed is the man that endureth 
temptation.'' There is a blessing in overcoming 
temptation, and there is benediction in suffering 
for righteousness' sake. 

It was through suffering our Lord achieved His 
greatest victory and triumph. It was by means of 
the cross that the Prince of Peace became the King 
of Glory. 

In the light, then, that streams from Calvary 
we learn the deep meaning of the last Beatitude. 



THE BEATITUDE OF THE PERSECUTED. 75 

The Beatitude of the persecuted is not something 
added to the other seven unalterable laws of the 
New Kingdom, not a mere excrescence which might 
be left out ; but it forms an integral part of the new 
legislation. The others would be incomplete without 
it. It crowns and completes, and in some sense 
rises above and beyond the other Beatitudes. It 
shows the very heart of Jesus. No good thing will 
He withhold from those that love Him. 

Those who have entered His Kingdom by sharing 
His poverty. His meekness, His mercy. His purity 
and peace, He invites to share His sufferings, and 
to participate in His royal power. His riches. His 
victory. 

The way of suffering is the only way to dominion, 
fruitfulness, and triumph in the New Kingdom. St. 
Paul says: '' But behold Him who hath been made a 
little lower than the angels, even Jesus, because of 
the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor.'' 
It was through humiliation and death that Jesus 
ascended the throne. Our way, too, lies through 
suffering, affliction and tribulation. It is the greatest 
Beatitude and the highest privilege to be allowed to 
follow in all the blessed footprints of Jesus. '* If we 
stiff er with Him we shall be glorified together.'' 

Let us remember that our suffering with Christ 
is not a yoke of bondage, but a glorious privilege ; not 
an iron rule, but a gracious gift; not constrained 



76 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

servitude, but voluntary devotedness. " Unto you 
it is given, in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe 
in Him, but also to suffer for His sake/' The real 
secret of suffering for righteousness' sake lies in the 
fact that the heart strings are centered in Christ. 
Thus, the essential benediction of suffering for right- 
eousness' sake lies in the fact that it springs from love 
to Christ. Hence, the greatest suffering for Christ 
yields the most intense joy. It gives us an oppor- 
tunity to acknowledge our allegiance to Him, in a 
most loyal way, before an ungodly world. To 
suffer for principle, even in the least things, fills 
our hearts with the benediction of heaven. Let us 
remember, however, that suffering for mere human 
opinion, or on account of our own want of tact, is 
not the suffering of the Beatitude. Many a man 
imagines he is wearing a martyr's crown, when in 
reality he is only wearing a fool's cap. Self-sacrifice 
for righteousness' sake is the only thing that wins 
the crown. To daily bear witness for God, without 
hesitation, and at the cost of all that is dearest to 
us, is to assume the attitude of resemblance to Jesus. 
To keep the eye steadily on Him, then, any suffering, 
which may come in consequence of such attitude, 
will yield us the sweetest joy. Thus the virtue of 
suffering for righteousness' sake contains within 
itself the seed of its own blessedness. 

But there is another element in the blessedness 



THE BEATITUDE OF THE PERSECUTED. ^^ 

of self-sacrij&ce. It is that suffering is the condition 
of fruitfulness. The greatest suffering brings forth 
the ripest fruit of Divine love. This was the case 
with the Master. After our Lord's triumphant 
entry into Jerusalem certain Greeks, who may have 
been Gentile proselytes, came to Philip and said: 
''Sir, we would see Jesus." Philip told Andrew 
what the Greeks had said, and Andrew and Philip 
went together to tell Jesus. The only answer our 
Lord gave was: ''Verily, verily I say unto you, 
except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, 
it abideth alone ; but if it die, it bringeth forth much 
fruit." John XI L 24, 25. Christ saw in the Greeks 
the first fruit of the Gentile world. He compares 
Himself to a grain of corn which would be buried 
by the unbelief of the Jews, but which would fructify 
in the faith of the Gentiles. As much as to say: 
The Jews desire to kill me, the Gentiles desire to see 
me. My hour is come! I will comply with the 
desire^of the Jews in order that I might comply with 
the desire of the Gentiles. "I will die that they 
might live. My death will be their birth." This, 
then, is a fundamental principle in the New King- 
dom. Dying is the condition of living; suffering is 
the ^condition of fruit bearing. This is the essential 
grandeur of Christianity. Death is the entrance to 
life ; defeat is the way to victory. 
*'Our Lord applies the same principle to His 



78 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

followers, at least as to the necessity of suffering to 
produce fruit fulness. "I am the Vine and My 
Father is the Husbandman. Every branch in Me 
that beareth not fruit He taketh away, and every 
branch that beareth fruit He purgeth it, that it 
may bring forth more fruit." 

*'The vine from every living limb bleeds wine. . . . 
And whoso suffers most hath most to give.'' 

Again St. Paul applies the same principle in Ro- 
mans Vni. 1 3 : ' ' For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall 
die : but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds 
of the body, ye shall live." In the light of this truth 
it is no wonder that St. Paul exclaims: ''We glory 
in tribulations also : knowing that tribulation worketh 
patience; and patience experience, and experience 
hope." Thus the sufferings of the present time are 
not worthy to be compared with the glory which 
shall be revealed in us. Thus, the Beatitude of the 
persecuted for righteousness' sake is the most glori- 
ous of all the series ; for it crowns, matures, and calls 
into full play all the other virtues. 

Finally, self-sacrifice for righteousness' sake is the 
only way to dominion and power. ''If we suffer 
with Him we shall also be glorified together." Our 
Lord says: "Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." 
It will be noticed that our Lord closes the Beatitudes, 
as He began them. The last note of the octave is 



THE BEATITUDE OF THE PERSECUTED. 79 

an echo of the first. The poor in spirit enjoy the 
spiritual blessings of the New Kingdom ; those who 
suffer for righteousness' sake share the dominion, 
power, victory and glory of the New Kingdom. Self- 
sacrifice always reigns. It is the completest and 
most enduring method of conquest. It was through 
the gateway of self-oblation that Jesus became the 
King of the Universe. In the New Kingdom, glory, 
power, and victory correspond to suffering, as the 
fruit to the seed. The summit of the Mount of the 
Beatitudes is covered with the richest crowns. To 
climb to the top involves self-sacrifice. Many are 
within the Kingdom, in the Father's house, who do 
not share the King's glory. They commenced to 
climb, but the frowns of the world discouraged them. 
The Master went all the way to Calvary, and only 
those who go all the way with Him share His glory. 
Death to self is the price of victorious power. 

Alas! some get frightened by the eclipse which 
hides the smiles of earthly friends. Some turn back 
at the first touch of the nail. The Master went all 
the way ! Only the peacemakers, who carry on His 
blessed work of making peace, regardless of the pain 
it involves, fully enter into the Master's joy. Peace- 
makers, labor on! Labor on! The King will 
publicly identify you with Himself when He comes ! 
'' Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteous- 
ness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE PATTERN ON THE MOUNT. 

AFTER the Ten Commandments were given, 
Moses was permitted, so to speak, to pass 
beyond them and to look at the source from 
which they came. It was as he meditated on the very 
mind of God, through the Spirit, that he saw a 
pattern of the Tabernacle. Thus, it was the vision 
that came after the Law that enabled him to not 
only obey its regulations, but to live in heart and 
mind in conformity with the will of God. 

As Moses passed beyond the Commandments to 
look, as it were, at the very heart of God, so we will 
pass beyond the study of the Beatitudes to look at 
the source from which they came. The Beatitudes 
are what they are because Christ is what He is. 
They have the power to regenerate men and society 
and lead them to everlasting happiness, because 
they flow from Him who is the source and fountain 
of all life and grace. 

The Beatitudes were not merely uttered by Christ 
on the Mountain as the Law was uttered by Moses, 
but they were repeated day after day and month 
after month in His life. He Himself was the sum 
and substance of all that He taught. Every virtue 



THE PATTERN ON THE MOUNT. 8 1 

mentioned in the legislation of the New Kingdom 
was harmoniously blended in Him. His daily life 
was the utterance of the thought of God; His 
conduct was the ideal of the New Kingdom. In 
Christ we see God moving among men under the 
conditions of our common human life. He came 
into the world to bring man back to God. He came 
to reveal God to man and, through the perfection of 
His own Manhood, to reveal man to God, and also to 
reveal man to man. If you want to know what 
man is in the will of God and in the purpose of God, 
just look at Jesus Christ. Man is so blinded by sin 
that he cannot see the dignity of his own nature. 
Christ, the living temple, the God-Man as He walks 
among men in the perfection of His own spotless 
Manhood, reveals to man the infinite possibilities of 
human nature. 

Christ is the only exact pattern of all the Beati- 
tudes that the world has ever seen. He is the 
summing up of all excellence. In Him we see every 
afiection active, but none disobedient ; every appe- 
tite intense, but none inordinate; every virtue fully 
developed, but none preponderant. He is the 
Pattern on the Mount, the great Archetype of 
Humanity, the universal ideal — '' Behold the Man!'' 

Other ideals are relative types of perfection, they 
are national and sectional, but Christ is the great 
tmiversal Ideal. Every nation has its own ideals, 



82 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

and its own characteristic virtues, and its own work 
to do in the building up of humanity. But the 
natural virtues of each nation will find their fullest 
development in the Son of Man. The day will yet 
come when the tranquillity and inwardness of the 
Hindu, the patience of the Chinaman, the amiability 
of the Japanese, will each find their fresh and fullest 
development and consecration in Christ Jesus. 

Again, every community of men, every organiza- 
tion that has ever been formed in the history of 
the Christian Church, has had its relative ideal. It 
was organized to portray some type of perfection, 
some particular virtue. For instance, some were 
organized to cultivate the spirit of poverty ; some to 
cultivate sympathy for the poor; some to cultivate 
cleanliness of life, and zeal for souls; some to 
cultivate self-control ; some to emphasize the virtue 
of obedience. Now, all these are relative ideals. 
''They have their day and cease to be." But the 
One great cosmopolitan Ideal remains. Every virtue 
is so fused and blended in Him that all nations, all 
ages and both sexes, can look to Him and say: 
''Behold the Man!" The Pattern on the Mount is 
free from local and national limitations. All relative 
ideals find their completion and highest develop- 
raent in Him. 

Not only was every virtue fully and actively 
. eveloped in Him, but He was so tenderly respon- 



THE PATTERN ON THE MOUNT. 83 

sive to all the experiences of human life, that He is 
able to have the largest sympathies with our tempta- 
tions, trials, and conflicts. He was not only the 
embodiment of every virtue, but He was tempted 
and tried by every embodiment of evil. His life is 
a concrete illustration of the principles He taught on 
the Mount. 

The Beatitudes summarize His life. Even in 
their very sequence they seem to express His 
history. They describe a life begtm in poverty and 
ended in persecution. Thus, they describe His 
blessed life from Bethlehem to Calvary, from the 
stable to the cross. 

To redeem man, Christ traveled all the way from 
the throne of God in heaven to the lowest depths of 
human woe, and from the lowest depths of human 
woe back to the throne of God in heaven. For our 
sakes He became poor. 

The perfect self-abnegation of Christ in becoming 
man stands out in the history of the world as an 
unapproachable wonder. Outwardly and visibly. He 
died to the Godhead when He was made Man. He 
wholly veiled His true self. He emptied Himself 
of all His glory. Now, what is this infinite self- 
abasement but a concrete illustration of the first 
Beatitude? Christ brought the virtue of self- 
abnegation all the way down from heaven. Self- 
abnegation characterized His whole life. He took 



84 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

the form of a servant when He became Man, and on 
the very last night of His life He wore the badge of 
a servant, for He girded Himself with a towel to 
wash His disciples' feet. 

Again, the moral and spiritual beauty of Jesus 
m^ovmg about in the midst of sin made Him a true 
mourner. Knowledge always puts an edge on grief. 
The very perfection of Jesus increased His capacity 
for suffering. It was His clear appreciation of the 
terrible nature of sin that weighed down His blessed 
soul. It was a full realization of the doom that 
awaited Jerusalem that made Him weep. His 
sorrow was always sorrow for others. ''Women of 
Jerusalem, weep not for Me.*' He was always meek. 
It was His characteristic virtue. '* Learn of Me, for 
I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest/' 
He combined with great meekness the most fervent 
and perfect love. His love manifested itself in His 
eagerness to do the will of God. He hungered and 
thirsted after righteousness. It was thirst for God's 
glory that made Him cleanse the temple by casting 
out those that sold doves. It was when the disciples 
witnessed Him cleansing the temple that they 
remembered that it was written: '' The zeal of thine 
house hath eaten Me up.'' His zeal was combined 
with great tenderness; He was exquisitely tender. 
He responded to the faintest cry of helplessness as 
readily as to the deepest groan of misery. He went 



THE PATTERN ON THE MOUNT. 85 

about doing good. He was always merciful. His 
only complaint was: **Ye will not] come unto Me 
that ye might have life/' 

He was the embodiment of stainless purity. His 
faultless purity was the center of a peaceful calm 
which nothing could disturb. In the calmness bom 
of spotless purity He carried on the work of making 
peace. The perfection of His character was essential, 
but it was not sufficient to purchase peace. Christ 
could have stood in the presence of God in His own 
right, for He was spotless and undefiled; but He 
could not represent others, He could not make peace 
between heaven and earth, without dying on the 
cross. Hence the cross was necessary. It was for 
this purpose He came into the world. Thus, the 
Beatitudes end on Calvary. They begin where they 
begin, and end where they end, because they de- 
scribe the life of Him who delivered them. The life 
of Christ is the revelation of all truth. He did not 
come to dehver a set of dogmatic truths or to 
crystallize a Divine faith in set theological forms, 
but He came to manifest Divine perfections in human 
form. He came to reveal truth in relation to the 
common details of human life. The people who saw 
Him saw the truth passing before their eyes. His 
life was the complete exemplification of all truth. 
He Himself said : *' I am the Way, and the Truth and 
the Life.'' He is the embodiment of all truth. 



86 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

Every link in the new legislation bears the stamp 
of His life. The virtues of the Beatitudes describe 
every step from the throne to the cradle, and from 
the cradle back to the throne again. Thus, the 
Beatitudes are the footprints of the Son of God. 
In Him heaven and earth are joined, mercy and 
truth are met together, righteousness and peace 
have kissed each other. He came into the world 
and lived as a man; He exemplified every virtue 
and returned as the ''King of Glory.'' 

The unrivaled position of Jesus as a living and 
sanctifying force makes Him the ideal of all nations. 
The heart of Jesus, not the external paraphernalia 
of religion, is the meeting-place of the nations. He 
has traveled the way before us and He wears the 
crown of eternal victory ! He, a greater than Moses 
— having passed through His own blessed exodus — 
sits on the throne, the one New Man, the Head of 
a new humanity, radiant in His eternal victory. He 
has shown us the way. But this is not all. Age 
after age He utters the Beatitudes, and, through 
the Holy Spirit, He gives us His own life to enable 
us to follow in His footsteps. Keep your eyes on 
the Ideal! ''See that thou do all things according 
to the pattern showed thee on the Mount.'' Let us, 
then, climb the Mount of the Beatitudes, looking 
unto Jesus, not only the Captain of our faith, but 
its Consummator in glory. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE IDEAL REALIZED. 

THE Beatitudes are a revelation of the mind of 
Christ . They are photographs of His heart and 
windows through which we can see His soul- 
He practised them in such a way that they were 
written in letters of gold on the memory of those 
who saw Him. To know Christ is to know the 
Beatitudes, and to know the Beatitudes in their 
fulness of meaning is to know Him. 

We feel as we study them, under the inspiration 
of the Holy Spirit, that we can say: '' We know Him 
that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in 
His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and 
eternal life/' 

If the Beatitudes had proceeded from some great 
philosopher they never would have possessed the 
power to become the foundation of a New Kingdom 
and a new system of life. There is an organic union 
between Christ and His words. Age after age the 
Beatitudes flow fresh and warm from His loving heart. 
They can never grow old. It is the union of the 
life of the Ideal with His teaching that gives the 
Beatitudes the power they have. Apart from Him 



88 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

they can never be realized in daily life. They can 
never be copied by external imitation. The more 
we try to realize them by outward conformity, the 
more keenly we realize that they vanish from our 
grasp. We may admire them, but apart from the 
life of Christ they will ever be an unrealized and 
ever- vanishing ideal. 

There is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 
New York City a small panel by Van Eyck. It is 
a small painting representing the descent from the 
cross. There is about the little picture such tone 
and atmosphere, and such perfection of finish, that 
our admiration for it never flags. Every time we 
visit the museum we pay our respects to that little 
picture. Now, if in view of our admiration for it, 
we tried to reproduce it, what a failure we would 
make of it! Gazing at it, admiring it, and appre- 
ciating it, would never help us to reproduce it. Only 
an artist could even copy it. But if the spirit of Van 
Eyck took possession of us and used our hands, and 
will, and affections, to reproduce the picture, then 
it would not be our picture at all, but simply Van 
Eyck reproducing himself — simply the artist using 
our willing faculties for the utterance of his own 
thoughts and ideals. Now, this illustrates the 
process of realizing the Beatitudes in heart and life. 

The character of Christ is so grandly comprehen- 
sive, so great, so glorious. In Him we see man 



THE IDEAL REALIZED. 8gr 

completely in the image of God, uttering in His daily- 
life the thought of God, realizing God's ideal for 
man. He is the one unchanging Ideal of the ages. 
The Beatitudes are the outlines of His character. The 
more I study the descriptive and dominant notes 
of the character of the Ideal, the brighter and clearer 
and fuller the Ideal becomes. The question of 
questions to me is : How is the Ideal to be realized 
in my daily life; how is the picture to be filled? 
Admiration for the Ideal will not do it ; to study the 
outlines of His character in the Beatitudes wnll 
not do it. There is only one way by which it can 
be done, and that is by organic union with the Ideal. 
It is God's will that we should be conformed to the 
image of His Son. The Pattern that was on the 
Mount is now on the throne. We see the outlines 
of the Pattern in the Beatitudes; the Holy Spirit 
sees the Living Pattern on the throne. The Holy 
Spirit, the Divine Artist, works from a pattern. He 
has the glorified Christ before Him as He molds 
and perfects us. He is the connecting Link between 
us and the Ideal. Through the Holy Spirit we are 
supplied with the very life of the Ideal. The trans- 
formation is effected by an inner molding, and not 
by mere outward conformity. He works from 
within. Thus, our faculties, our will, our affections, 
become the means by which the life of the Ideal is 
expressed in our daily life. 



9.0 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM 

Christ has traveled the way before us, but without 
His Hfe in us we cannot follow. We cannot climb 
the Mount of the Beatitudes by merely contem- 
plating the outward Christ — the dead Nazarine, the 
Christ of long ago. Organic union with the risen, 
triumphant Christ, the Christ that now is, is essen- 
tial. The realm of union is the realm of realization. 
When the life of Christ flows into our souls through 
the Holy Spirit, final perfection — final conformity to 
the Pattern — is a certainty. It is Christ in us that 
enables us to climb the Mount of the Beatitudes. 
He expresses His own life through us. But He 
does it through us, in us, not without us. The 
Kingdom of God all through is the Kingdom of 
co-operation. Struggle and effort on our part are 
essential. 

It was through co-operation that the Ideal Him- 
self reached the goal. Throughout His earthly life 
our Lord never did a single action nor uttered a 
single word on the unit principle. He was always 
human and Divine. He always did the things that 
pleased the Father. He viewed every action and 
every word from the standpoint of the Father's will. 
His human will, feelings, and affections, moved in 
response to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. His 
whole life was the utterance of the life of the Trinity 
in human form. It was by co-operating with God 
that Christ, as a man, was tried, developed, and per- 



THE IDEAL REALIZED. 91 

fected. Now, just as Christ was the utterance, the 
expression of the mind of God, so we are to be the 
utterance, the expression of the mind of Christ. 
Christ became poor in order that He might make 
many rich. He tasted death in order that He might 
lead many sons into glory; and men are to be 
redeemed, regenerated, developed, and at last led 
to glory, by co-operating with the Ideal. 

This was the secret of the intense yearning of 
Christ for the time to come when He, through the 
Spirit, would be able to give His life to His followers. 
He came to give life, He came to give the Holy 
Spirit, but before He could do so He had to pass 
through the sufferings of the cross. So He cried: 
*'I am come to send fire on the earth, and I would 
it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to 
be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it 
be accomplished!'' Christ, the New Man, the New 
Representative of humanity, the Last Adam, 
longed for the time to come when His mind. His 
life, would find utterance and expression through 
His members. 

Before Pentecost His life was localized and 
limited, and so He cried: '*How am I strait- 
ened till it be accomplished!'' The glorified 
body of Christ is the basis of the Holy Spirit's 
ministry in the New Kingdom. Every sin that is 
pardoned, and every soul that - is sanctified, and 



92 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

every operation of Divine grace, is the result^of the 
union that exists between the Holy Spirit in the 
human soul and the body of Jesus on the throne. 
It is, then, by receiving the life of the Ideal Man 
on the throne, that we are transformed into His 
blessed image. It is no wonder that Christ longed 
for the time to come when He could do this ! Union 
with the Ideal is the only way to perfection. Once 
united to Him no power can separate us from His 
love. Nothing but the renunciation of the co- 
operative principle, and a deliberate return to the 
unit principle by the action of our own will, can 
separate us from the Ideal. 

He has traveled all the way before us. He 
has broken the force of every temptation, He 
has met the embodiment of every evil, and has 
won in the fight. In all the strength of His 
radiant personality He takes hold of the seed 
of Abraham. It is the present tense, thank God — 
He takes hold ! Age after age He takes hold of the 
children of men, and, therefore, those who respond 
to His loving touch are as sure of final victory as 
if they were now before the throne. Our progress 
may be slow, but the ultimate issue is sure ! Christ 
in us will in the end reproduce Himself. The 
reappearance of the Beatitudes in the lives of the 
disciples, after Pentecost, furnishes a convincing 
proof of this truth. 



THE IDEAL REALIZED. 93 

Immediately after the Holy Spirit united the 
disciples to their living Head, we find the Beatitudes 
breaking out, as it were, from the virgin soil of 
the Church, just as the green shoots of the corn 
spring up imder the genial showers of spring. What 
is the spontaneous outburst of love that held the 
disciples together, when they had all things in com- 
mon, and when they sold their possessions and parted 
them to all men as every man had need, but the 
reappearance of the first Beatitude? 

Again, what is the sustained joy of the disciples 
in peril on sea and land, their songs in prison, 
'* sorrowful, yet always rejoicing," but the reappear- 
ance of the Beatitude of the mourners? 

What is the perfect self-control of the disciples, 
and their calmness in ttmiult, but the reappearance 
of the Beatitude of Meekness? 

Indeed, the whole moral teaching of the Apostles, 
as contained in the Epistles, is founded on the Beati- 
tudes. If the Beatitudes had never been written, 
their principles could still be traced in the Epistles. 

But it is the reappearance of the Beatitudes in 
the lives of the disciples that we are talking about 
now. They were living Epistles, read and known 
of all men. It was the life they lived that gave 
power and freshness to their teaching. Christ dwelt 
in them, and walked about in them. Wherever 
they went Christ went. 2 Cor. VI. 16. Their love 



94 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

was rooted in the New Man, moment by moment; 
fresh and warm, they received His life. They Hved 
in the energy of the risen and triumphant Jesus. 

From the Day of Pentecost to the present time 
there has been a blessed succession of the saints of 
God who have borne witness to the truth embodied 
in the Beatitudes. The supreme need of the world 
to-day is not more doctrine, or more philosophy,. 
but more living reflectors of the life of Jesus Christ. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE LIVING ORGANISM. 

THE Church of God is a Hving thing, a complex 
personaHty. The Head in heaven, the mem- 
bers on earth, and the Holy Spirit, who is 
the soul of the Church, make one Mystical Person. 

It is of the utmost importance to have a clear idea 
as to what the Church really is. Vagueness here 
will mean vagueness and uncertainty all through 
our spiritual life. 

The Church, in the full New Testament meaning 
of the word, began its existence on the Day of 
Pentecost. It could not have existed before, for 
its existence depends on another great antecedent 
fact, and the Church could not be a fact without it. 
In the physical world no fact stands by itself. 
The moment we begin to study any fact in the order 
of nature, we at once realize that it is related to 
some other fact. It is the same in the New King- 
dom. 

The Mystical Body is the logical sequence of the 
Incarnation, and the means of perpetuating it 
among men. The life and work of Christ were 
essential preliminary antecedents to the birth of 
the Living Organism. Christ is as really present 
in the world to-day through the Spirit as when He 



96 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

sat in the midst of His disciples on the Mount of the 
Beatitudes. He is even nearer to us than He was 
to the disciples on the Mount, for He was with 
them — He is in us. It is only in the light of this 
truth that we can understand certain expressions 
used by our Lord that would otherwise seem 
paradoxical. For instance: ''A little while, and 
ye shall see Me, because I go to the Father;'' ''I go 
away and come again unto you;'' '' It is expedient 
for you that I go away;" ''Lo, I am with you 
alway." Going away in order to be present, going 
to the Father that He might be seen! These 
expressions intimate the possibility of a privilege 
greater than His bodily presence. His bodily 
presence was localized and limited to His immediate 
followers. 

This truth shows the essential difference between 
an external organization and a living organism. 
The words ''organism" and ''organization" are not 
interchangeable. An organization is an arrange- 
ment devised by some leader or group of leaders, 
for some special purpose, whereas an organism is a 
structure formed from within. The disciples before 
the Day of Pentecost were an organization with 
Christ as their Leader. It was the coming of the 
Holy Spirit from the glorified Ideal that constituted 
them a Living Organism. The Mystical Body of 
Christ is, therefore, something immeasurably deeper 



THE LIVING ORGANISM. 97 

than an organization. Pentecost was the birthday 
of the Living Organism. 

This truth throws a flood of Hght on the difference 
between the ministry of the Holy Spirit in Creation, 
and Providence, and His ministry in the Mystical 
Body. In Creation and Providence the Holy 
Spirit proceeds from the Godhead immediately, but 
in the New Kingdom His ministry is mediately 
from the Father and the Son through the Humanity 
of Christ. The Holy Spirit is not incarnate; but 
He is, as it were, humanized through His union 
with the Humanity of Christ. All the life and grace 
stored up for us in that blessed Body He ministers 
to us. It is of the utmost importance to grasp this 
truth. Christ is as really present in the Mystical 
Body through the Holy Spirit as when He walked 
in and out of the streets of Jerusalem. It is through 
this Living Organism that Christ perpetuates His 
life among men. His delight is still with the sons 
of men. 

Now, this is a truth of great practical importance. 
There are three ways of looking at membership in 
the Living Organism. First, each individual is 
united by the Holy Spirit directly with the Lord 
Jesus Christ. As such ''we are members of His 
body, of His flesh, and of His bones.'' Eph. V. 20. 
The analogy between the human organism and the 
Mystical- Organism is more than an imaginary 



98 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

resemblance. It is an actual and vital correspond- 
ence. Through the Holy Spirit the warm, fresh life 
of the Son of Man on the throne flows to the individ- 
ual soul. 

Secondly, the individual is organically related to 
all the saints. As such, *' We are members, one of 
another.'' Rom. XII. 5. '' Therefore, if one member 
suffer, all the members suffer with it ; if one member 
be honored, all the members rejoice with it." If 
we realized our position as members of the Living 
Organism, it would transform and color our whole 
life. We have a concrete illustration of the trans- 
forming power of this truth in St. Paul. The very 
manner of his conversion revealed to him the nature 
of the Living Organism that he was persecuting. 

It was the glorified Head of the Church who- 
appeared to him on the way to Damascus. Thus, 
at the very beginning of his spiritual life, Paul 
learned two important things. First,' that Jesus, 
was glorified ; and secondly, that His people on earth 
were so intimately and vitally united to Him that 
His heart thrilled with sympathetic pain when they 
were persecuted. Jesus cried: ''Why persecutest 
thou Me?" 

This revelation of the nature of the Mystical 
Body colored all Paul's after life. It was the 
secret of his compassionate love for **all the saints." 
Once at least he calls the Church ''Christ." "For 



; THE LIVING ORGANISM. 99 

as the body is one, and hath many members, and 
all the members of that one body, being many, are 
one body: so also is Christ." i Cor. XII. 12. The 
Living Head on the throne, and the living members 
on earth, constitute one Christ. What a thrilling 
and sobering thought! The vital power of the 
risen and triumphant Christ flowing to His members 
through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the 
soul of the Mystical Organism, and He animates 
every part of it. Just as my soul animates every 
part of my body, so the Holy Spirit animates every 
part of the Mystical Body. As my soul is in my hand 
when I write, in my tongue when I speak, in my 
feet when I walk, even so the Holy Spirit animates 
every member of the Mystical Organism. 

Every member of the Living Organism should, 
therefore, be imbued with the true ideal of the 
whole, and should be zealous for its realization. 
The Living Organism is the realm of co-operation. 
Every one within its borders seeks his own fullest 
development for the sake of the whole body. The 
whole body is the collective utterance of the life 
of Jesus. The vine needs all its branches for the 
expression of its life, so Christ needs the whole body 
for the expression of His mind. It takes all the 
saints to comprehend Christ, and it takes all the 
saints to express His mind in human life. The 
interests of Jesus, therefore, demand that the 

LofC. 



lOO THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

individual seek his own growth and development in 
the growth and expansion of the Living Organism. 

A full realization of our relation to the whole 
Mystical Body will save us from discouragement. 
Many people expect more of themselves than God 
expects of them. They seek to realize in their own 
lives the perfection which God only expects in the 
collective organism. Hence, when they fail through 
the limitations of their own poor souls, they get 
discouraged. 

The Mystical Body is the realm of realization. 
It is the realm of co-operation. God looks at the 
heart. He looks at the soul of an act, at the set of 
the will. As long as our will is united to God's 
will we share the corporate blessings of the Living 
Organism. Here the strong help the weak, and if 
we are among the weak ones of the body, let us take 
comfort in the thought that the strong shall not be 
made perfect without us. 

Prayer offered in one part of the Mystical Body 
benefits every part. The prayers of Andrew Murray 
in Africa benefit me in New York. Those who are 
in living and conscious touch with the throne are 
also in touch with each other. This accounts for 
the union and sympathy of the inner circle. An 
excellent illustration of this is afforded in the 
conventions held at Keswick in England, and North- 
field and Mountain Lake Park in the United States. 



THE LIVING ORGANISM. lOI 

Men come to these conventions from all over the 
country — ^from the North and from the South, 
from the East and from the West. They belong to 
different organizations, but when the name of 
Jesus is mentioned, when testimony is borne to the 
cleansing power of the precious blood, and to the 
indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, they all, as 
one man, are thrilled with a sense of the same 
blessed life. This truly is the union for which 
Christ prayed when He said: ''That they all may be 
one." 

These very conventions illustrate the relation 
which the Mystical Organism bears to external 
organization. Life produces organization, but or- 
ganization is not life. The supreme need of the age 
is to bring back the living Christ to the people. 
The living, sympathizing Christ, ''The same yester- 
day and to-day and for ever,*' is what the world 
needs. The object of the conventions to which we 
have alluded is to make Christ once more a blessed 
reality by emphasizing the ministry of the Holy 
Spirit. 

"The King's Daughter is all glorious within!" 
All the glory, and all the beauty of her onward 
march through the ages, all the light she has shed on 
her path, all the institutions to which she has given 
birth, have been but radiations of her internal life 
and power. 



I02 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

This is pre-eminently the day of organization. 
Voluntary organizations abound on every hand. 
God forbid that we should underestimate the power 
of organization! To speak against organization is 
to doubt the continuous inspiration of the Holy 
Spirit. Organization is good when it is the result 
of life; it is undesirable only when it is made a 
substitute for it. Doubtless the individuals who 
planned and organized the Y. M. C. A., the Epworth 
League, the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, and scores 
of other useful organizations, were moved to do so 
by the Holy Spirit. The same might be said of the 
great historic ecclesiastical organizations. 

Voluntary organizations are good only in so far 
as they lead men to the Living Organism. But if 
all voluntary organizations ceased now, the Mystical 
Organism would still continue. Organizations come 
and go, rise and wane. ''They have their day and 
cease to be,'* but the Mystical Organism is or- 
ganically and essentially the same in every age. 

The Mystical Organism is the Bride of Christ. 
The union that took place at Pentecost is permanent 
and eternal. Time and earthly circumstances will 
never be able to break the union until the heavenly 
Bridegroom comes in all His glory for His Bride; 
then the union will not be in faith only, but in 
thrilling vision. 

The Living Organism goes marching on! The 



THE LIVING ORGANISM. IO3 

Living Christ is what the world needs. Christ when 
on earth was a Man among men, going about doing 
good. He had compassion on the multitudes. He 
loved them. He still loves the multitudes. To get 
away from the multitudes is to get away from 
Christ. He longs to speak to the multitudes through 
lis. Before His crucifixion He felt His limitations. 
He was then localized in His earthly body. Oh, 
how He longed for the time to come when He could 
express His love to the multitudes through His 
Mystical Body ! There is now no limitation but the 
limitation caused by our sin, by our will. The 
union between Christ and His Mystical Body is 
perfect. He wants to comfort, to bless, and to 
save men. Can He use me to utter His thought, to 
show His heart? He wants to speak to that poor 
sinner, to comfort the sick, to help the poor. Can 
He use me to do it? 

Every Spirit-filled man is a new torch to increase 
the light and heat and saving power of the Living 
Organism. Oh, for the privilege of being used by 
Christ to help men and women in such a tender, 
loving way that they will realize that it is His 
blessed touch! It is the life of Christ, not theories, 
the force of example, not systems, that the world 
needs! Oh, thou blessed sinner-loving, self -forget- 
ting Christ, dwell in me, and use me! 



CHAPTER XIV, 

THE APOSTOLIC METHOD. 

MERE admiration for an absent Christ can 
never produce obedience to His teaching. 
A mere abstract of faith, traditionally in- 
herited, cannot move the hearts and wills of men 
and wean them from the world. Living, vital, 
conscious union with Christ through the Holy 
Spirit is the onlv thing that will insure a triumphant 
walk. 

Wherever the blessed ministry of the Holy Spirit 
is neglected and misunderstood, there the heart and 
mind lie in spiritual slumber, and spiritual slumber 
is nothing less than incipient spiritual death. In 
the assemblies of the early Christians, knowledge of 
the Deity and distinct personality of the Holy Spirit 
was considered of supreme importance. His blessed 
inspiration was always recognized. Men prayed in 
the Spirit, sang in the Spirit, and preached in the 
power of the Spirit. Hence the Apostles were 
always irresistible and victorious. Men were so full 
of the Spirit that they at once recognized the lack 
of spiritual freshness and power in others. 

We have a remarkable illustration of this in St. 
Paul when he visited Ephesus. Burning with/:the 



THE APOSTOLIC METHOD. 105 

full glow of Pentecostal power, he at once discerned 
their spiritual condition. It did not take him long 
to discover the signs of spiritual deadness. With 
the unerring perception of a man in conscious touch 
with Jesus, he saw that something hindered the full 
and free flow of life into their souls. They did not 
look like men in conscious touch with the heavenly 
Vine. St. Paul had witnessed too many wonderful 
Pentecostal scenes to be deceived on this occasion. 
He had seen the proud becoming humble, the rigid 
becoming flexible, and the sad bursting into joy, 
under the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit. 
Real connection with the triumphant Jesus always 
produces the same results. So when St. Paul saw 
the Ephesian converts, he knew at once that there 
was something wrong. He knew that their spiritual 
lungs were congested and that their hearts were 
cramped, for they had no liberty, no glow, no joy. 
St. Paul on this occasion acted as a wise physician. 
His question was a lancet that cut to the very quick. 
'' Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?'' 
The question was straightforward, keen and practi- 
cal, and it was driven home by the power of the Holy 
Spirit. The answer which the question elicited 
proved that St. Paul had read the signs well, for, 
with painfully refreshing sincerity, the Ephesians 
answered : '' We have not so much as heard whether 
there be any Holy Ghost.'' 



Io6 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

Now, St. Paul's question is a soul-stirring and 
thought-compelling example of the apostolic method 
of catechizing. It is a question that strikes at the 
very structure, root, and fiber of the spiritual life. 
Alas! how many nominal Christians are in this 
country to-day who are in the same spiritual con- 
dition as those Ephesian converts! They do not 
personally know and recognize the Holy Spirit, who 
alone can make them real Christians. They merely 
belong to the outward organization, but not to the 
Living Organism. It is true that they use His 
blessed name frequently in their religious services; 
but they do not personalize their faith, hence their 
faith is vague and obscure. The result of this 
vagueness and spiritual obscurity is evident on every 
side. They limp and halt on the heavenly way, 
with lamps without oil in their hands, an empty 
faith without power, because they are not in vital 
union with the risen and triumphant Jesus. They 
do not know the real Christ. They only know the 
outward Christ. 

To believe in the Holy Spirit in a general way is 
not sufficient. St. PauVs question is intensely 
practical and personal: **Have ye received the Holy 
Ghost since ye believed?'' 

The only way to stem the rising tide of materialism 
and the useless, soul-destroying platitudes of a false 
liberalism, and the dangerous undertow of incipient 



THE APOSTOLIC METHOD. 107 

rationalism is to return to the Apostolic method of 
catechizing — **Have ye received the Holy Ghost?'' 
But, you say, ''apostolic days are chronologically 
very remote from ours ; we are now living imder new 
conditions, and to meet those new conditions we 
need new methods." 

The new conditions are new in appearance only. 
*' There is nothing new under the sim, '' says the wise 
man. The evils of to-day are but the evils of yes- 
terday in a new dress. Error and vice have always 
existed. They assume different forms at different 
times, but at the bottom they are always the same. 
The root evil of every age is that the carnal mind 
is enmity against God. The Holy Ghost is the only 
effectual antidote for this evil. Christ came to 
deliver us from sin. The Holy Ghost is the Agent 
through whom the work is done. The Holy Ghost 
alone can impart spiritual life to the soul, and He 
alone can sustain it. 

To try to revitalize the church by means of showy 
externals, or by multiplying organizations, is like 
trying to sustain a fire in the furnace by throwing 
in a little chip or a shaving. The shaving makes a 
flash, but it quickly perishes. To sustain a continu- 
ous fire you must supply the furnace with massive 
logs or bitimiinous chunks that retain flame. It is 
so in the spiritual life. 

External things, such as a new organization, or 



I08 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

grand ritual, or florid music, may create a flickering 
interest ; but the Holy Ghost, the Giver of Life, alone 
can keep the fire of Divine love burning in our souls. 

The peculiar intellectual condition of this age 
demands a return to Apostolic methods. The 
temper of the age is to ask, not what doctrines we 
believe, but on what authority do we believe them? 
What is the starting-point and ultimate basis of 
Christian certitude? In the clash and clang of 
multitudinous voices and varying sects whither 
shall we go for certitude and confidence? Blessed 
Holy Spirit, to whom shall we go but to Thee ? Thou 
hast the words of eternal life. Union with Jesus 
through the Holy Spirit is the basis of Christian 
certitude. He alone can make Christ real to us, 
and transform us into His likeness. The supreme 
evidence that Christ died and rose from the grave, 
and ascended into heaven is to be found in the fact 
that men and women embody in their lives the very 
Beatitudes that fell from His blessed lips. 

The Apostles bore witness to the great outstanding 
facts of the Gospel long before one word of the New 
Testament was written. St. Peter, in referring to 
the birth, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension 
of Christ, says: ''We are witnesses of these things, 
and so is the Holy Ghost.'' The Apostles were wit- 
nesses of the death, resurrection and ascension of 
Christ, not because they had watched Him ascend from 



THE APOSTOLIC METHOD. 109 

the Mount of Olives, but because the very throne 
life of Jesus filled their souls through the Holy 
Spirit. Thus the Holy Spirit was the cause of their 
certitude. We need a clarified spiritual vision to-day. 
The Holy Spirit can dispel our darkness. He can 
sharpen our dull minds and make the outstanding 
facts of redemption luminous and realistic to our 
souls. He alone can give us calm and triumphant 
assurance. Reason cannot do it. The utmost 
reason can do, as Bishop Butler says, is to produce 
probability. The Bible without the Holy Spirit 
cannot produce certitude. Thank God a million 
times for the blessed Book! I believe its every 
word from Genesis to Revelation. But I believe the 
Book because I believe in Christ. 

To the man without Christ the Bible itself speaks 
no commanding word. Without the Holy Spirit he 
is spiritually deaf and blind. The promises are 
there, but he cannot hear ; the light is there, but he 
cannot see it. The ground of Christian certitude 
is within. The Holy Ghost alone can make spiritual 
things real to the soul. The leading facts of redemp- 
tion are the Incarnation, the Cross, the Throne. It 
is aroimd these facts all the doctrines of the Bible 
are clustered ; out of these three great facts they all 
grow. The Holy Spirit alone can make these facts 
real to the souls of men. It is in the light of the 
throne that we understand the cross, and in the light 



no THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

of the cross and the throne we realize the deep mean- 
ing of the cradle. It was when the Holy Spirit 
united the Apostles to the throne that they under- 
stood the^^meaning of redemption. Their union with 
Christ was so complete that they saw their living 
Head with such vividness that the entrancing vision 
filled them with joy. Christ in the soul is His own 
eternal witness. He is the ever-living Christ, with 
us now, in us now, the hope of glory. Where Christ 
is, there is certitude, and where there is certitude, 
there is joy. St. Paul knew this, so when he saw the 
sad faces of theEphesian converts he asked : *'Have 
ye received the Holy Ghost?'' 

Back, back to Pentecost ! back to apostolic meth- 
ods! The cold, mechanical aspect of our congrega- 
tions shows that their union with Christ is not real. 
The Holy Spirit alone can cleanse us from sin ; He 
alone can remove the obstruction that prevents the 
warm life of Jesus from flowing into our souls. 

If St. Paul lived in this country to-day, he would 
hasten from town to town, and from State to State, 
to ask the soul-stirring question, ''Have ye received 
the Holy Ghost?'' Back, back to the apostolic 
method! Of what use is apostolic order without 
apostolic grace and power? Alas! the church is 
becalmed, nay moored, on the waters of the Dead 
Sea, or moving with discouraging slowness on the 
banks of the Jordan, when she might be in Canaan^ 



THE APOSTOLIC METHOD. Ill 

the land of victory and triiimph. Back to the 
apostolic method! The empty churches demand 
it, the price paid for our redemption demands it, the 
special crimes of our day demand it, the terrible 
desecration of the Lord's Day, the increase of 
suicide and divorce demand it. '' Have^'ye^received 
the Holy Ghost?" 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN RELATION TO DAILY TOIL. 

NO error is more dangerous in its ultimate 
tendency than the error of ignoring the 
ministry of the Holy Spirit in relation to the 
physical side of life. God is the author of all life, 
and as He cannot be the author of two contradictory 
tendencies, there can be no antithesis between the 
physical and spiritual life. The temple of truth is 
symmetrical, it is many-sided. To dismember the 
temple of truth is bound to result in corresponding 
loss to human character. 

All error is the result of distortion ; it is the result 
of emphasizing one aspect of truth at the expense of 
neglecting the other. For instance, Pantheism was 
the result of ignoring the ministry of the Holy 
Spirit in nature. It arose from a dim and distorted 
sense in the minds of men that God would bring 
Himself into close and effective touch with the 
physical side of life. It was the result of separating 
God from His own creation. A far-away God 
cannot satisfy the human soul. 



THE HOLY SPIRIT IN RELATION TO DAILY TOIL. II 3 

The two great opposite errors of our own time, 
materialism and the spirituaHstic phenomena, are 
the result of the same cause. Materialism is a 
protest against the undue depreciation of the mate- 
rial side of human life. The spiritualistic phenomena, 
including Theosophy, Christian Science, and a false 
Spiritualism, are .the result of the swing of the 
pendulum in the opposite direction. 

The supreme need of the age is the restoration of 
the balance and proportion of truth by emphasizing 
the ministry of the Holy Spirit in Creation, in 
Providence, and in our daily life. This can only be 
done by going back to the teaching of the Bible. 

The Bible makes no mistakes. It abounds in 
statements regarding the Holy Spirit's work in 
Creation, and in Providence, and in relation to daily 
toil. The firmament shows His handiwork and the 
earth is full of His glory. The earth as it is to-day 
is the result of the Holy Spirit's action. ''By His 
Spirit the heavens are garnished." He gives and 
He sustains all life. Every child we meet, every 
flower we see, every blade of grass, is an outward 
sign of the Spirit's nearness. The flower lives, but 
it could not live without the Holy Spirit, for He is 
the Giver and Sustainer of all life. Nature in all 
its moods is the utterance of the mind of God. The 
beauty of nature is the utterance of His love, the 
laws of nature are an expression of His will, and 



114 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

the wonders of nature are but evidences of His 
wisdom. 

We cannot get away from the Spirit of God, 
because we cannot get away from life. The Psalmist 
felt this when he cried: ** Whither shall I go from 
Thy Spirit?'' Wherever we go, in the street, in 
the field, in the garden, He is ever near. 

** There are no gentile oaks, no pagan pines, 
The grass beneath our feet is Christian grass.'' 

Oh, how sacred all the world becomes in conse- 
quence of the nearness of the Holy Spirit ! 

The teaching of the Bible is equally clear in 
relation to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in Provi- 
dence. We are in the habit of dividing history into 
two sections, ** sacred" and ** profane!" When was 
the unity broken? All history is equally sacred 
when viewed in relation to the ministry of the Holy 
Spirit. 

The great social and political forces outside the 
sphere of revealed truth were controlled by the Holy 
Spirit. They were all made subservient to God's 
plans. The name of God is not even mentioned in 
the Book of Esther, but there is a Divine purpose 
running through it all. It is so in relation to the 
nations outside the sphere of revealed truth. They 
all form a part of God's plan. 

Cyrus, a Gentile and a heathen, was as truly led 



THE HOLY SPIRIT IN RELATION TO DAILY TOIL. 1 1 5 

by the Spirit of God as Moses or Joshua. In the 
Book of Ezra we read: ''The Lord stirred up the 
spirit of Cyrus.'' 

Moral causes are always at work. In the rise 
and fall of the nations we see the footprints of the 
Holy Spirit. When nations refuse to live according 
to the light they have, then they are destroyed. 
In their destruction we recognize the ministry of the 
Holy Spirit. 

Pharaoh might have been God's instrument in 
blessing, but, because He disregarded God's voice, 
he was whelmed in the Red Sea. We see the same 
principle at work in Babylon, Assyria, Rome and 
Greece. History is but a looking-glass in which we 
see the Holy Spirit's relation to the affairs of men. 
What is true of the past is equally true of the 
present. We see His footprints in Japan and China, 
and in our own coimtry. God rules in the affairs 
of men. There is a Divine purpose in everything. 
Things may have a very common, earthly, look, but 
yet they are all a part of God's great plan. All 
history is Divine. The Holy Spirit is still preparing 
the nations for the coming of the King. 

The teaching of the Bible is equally clear as to 
the ministry of the Holy Spirit in relation to the 
physical side of individual life. Christ assumed a 
body like our own. He assumed human nature in 
all its completeness. The Incarnation stands for 



Il6 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

the complete redemption of the whole man — body, 
soul, and spirit. In Christ, Divine love was 
embodied in a throbbing human heart, in order that 
we might see what human nature is when controlled 
by the Spirit of God. The body is not the soul's 
enemy, not its prison-house, not its slave, but its 
companion, its friend, its helper, its medium of 
utterance, and through which it may reach its 
fullest expansion and development. Christ came 
not to destroy, but to redeem, ennoble, and dignify 
every faculty of soul and body. The physical life 
is the utterance or outward expression of the 
spiritual. What we do is the result of what we 
are. 

Every action in life proceeds either from the 
selfish or egoistic principle, or from the co-operative 
principle of self-abnegation. In any case, the out- 
ward act is the utterance of the soul's life. Now, 
if the Holy Spirit controls the spiritual, He controls 
the physical also ; for life is one. 

All work done in union with the Holy Spirit 
becomes heavenly. We are in the habit of dividing 
work into ''sacred'' and ''secular." The moral 
character of an act depends on the principle from 
which it springs. If it springs from the co-operative 
principle, that is, if it is done in union with the 
Holy Spirit, then it becomes sacred. Every 
legitimate calling becomes Divine when God is 



THE HOLY SPIRIT IN RELATION TO DAILY TOIL. 1 1 7 

associated with it. Thus the spiritual and physical 
sides of human life form one inseparable synthesis. 
Now, this thought forms the basis of the following 
practical deduction, namely, when the Holy Spirit 
controls our life He intensifies our usefulness along 
the lines of our daily toil. There are many illus- 
trations of this truth in the Bible. We shall notice 
first that of a toiler at the bench. 

In Exodus XXXI. 2 we read: ''See, I have 
called by name Bazaleel the son of Uri, the son of 
Hur, of the tribe of Judah: and I have filled him 
with the Spirit of God . . . '' Here is a striking 
illustration of the Holy Spirit intensifying a man's 
usefulness along the line of his daily toil. Doubt- 
less Bazaleel was well known as a ''cunning'' tent- 
builder long before the Holy Spirit prompted him 
to construct the Tabernacle. I deduce this from 
the fact that, when the Holy Spirit wants men to do 
some exceptional and extraordinary work, He 
usually does so by giving a Divine direction to their 
daily task. The Holy Spirit gives to the intellect 
brighter visions of truth, and to the hand more 
cunning in execution. 

The natural gifts of Bazaleel were refined, elevated, 
supematuralized, so to speak, because they were 
used in union with the Holy Spirit. The Tabernacle 
was so exquisite in beauty, so perfect in form, so 
far above all the other tents that he had ever made. 



Il8 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

that people at once recognized it as the result of 
Divine inspiration. 

Those who seek the greatest usefulness, and a 
permanent basis for action, will find them by placing 
every faculty of soul and body at the disposal of the 
Holy Spirit. He is the Keystone of all knowledge, 
the Fructifier of the intellect, and the Strengthener 
of the arm. 

Samson is another illustration of the same truth. 
He was doubtless by nature a giant in stature and 
strength, but Spirit-controlled and Spirit-filled, he 
was simply irresistible and victorious. Thus, the 
Holy Spirit makes the creature that i» merely 
human humanly divine. 

It is doubtless much easier to think of the Holy 
Spirit intensifying the usefulness of Moses and 
David, and Bazaleel and Samson, than to recognize 
His personal supervision over our daily life. But He 
takes the same interest in us as He took in them. 
They did their daily work in union with the Holy 
Spirit, and yet to them at that time their work 
looked as commonplace as our work looks to us. 

The Holy Spirit takes an interest in all life. 
Things that are dusty with the dust of passing 
circumstances are parts of a Divine plan and pieces 
of a Divine history. Life is a unit. The moral, 
intellectual, spiritual, and physical form a perfect 
whole. 



THE HOLY SPIRIT IN RELATION TO DAILY TOIL. II 9 

Tissot, the artist, is a remarkable illustration of 
the relation of the Holy Spirit to daily toil in our 
own day. He was an artist before his conversion, 
but when the Holy Spirit gave him a vision of 
Christ, the nature and quality of his daily work was 
at once changed. Under the inspiration of the 
Holy Spirit, his natural ''cunning'' was so intensified 
that he gave the world a very realistic illustration of 
the life of Christ. 

A noted singer became dissatisfied with the hollow 
mockery of popular applause. Her soul longed for 
something better, deeper, more Divine. She was 
soul-hungry and lonesome. One night she heard a 
poor girl singing in sweet simplicity, ''There is a 
fountain filled with blood.'' The great singer said: 
"Oh, that I could sing that song from my heart!" 
When she reached her room she knelt down and 
gave herself to God. The following Sunday she, too, 
sang, "There is a fountain filled with blood," but 
there was a new power in her voice, and a new 
expression on her face, for she was now singing in 
union with the Holy Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit destroys everything that is base, 
and ennobles, and refines, and co-ordinates every- 
thing that is noble and true. He will help us in the 
factory, in the workshop, and even in the kitchen. 
He blends and harmonizes the earthly and the 
heavenly, the spiritual and the physical. 



I20 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

The common task and the daily round, whatever 
the common task may be, becomes heavenly when it 
is done in union with the Holy Spirit. No duty is 
too trivial for the Holy Spirit to help us to 
perform. 

He came to Moses in the wilderness and asked: 
''What is that in thine hand?'' Moses answered: 
**It is a rod. It is My shepherd's crook; it is 
the means by which I earn a living for my family." 
God said: ''Cast it down at My feet," and Moses 
cast it down. The rod ever after became to Moses 
a symbol of God's presence. All through the Book 
of Exodus God calls the rod Moses' rod ; but Moses 
calls it God's rod. The fact is, a thing never be- 
comes so really and sublimely ours as when we 
associate God with it. God asks the mother, 
"What is that in thine hand?" and she answers, 
"My child." "Cast it down at My feet, associate 
Me with your daily duty, ' ' and at once maternity 
becomes sublime. Alas! so many toil on drearily 
without sunshine, without joy, because they toil 
without God. 

The Holy Spirit gives richness, and fulness, and 
completeness to our lives. He dignifies every 
relationship. Those who place every relationship 
and every faculty of soul and body at the disposal 
of the Holy Spirit make better mothers, better 
fathers, better wives, better husbands, better 



THE HOLY SPIRIT IN RELATION TO DAILY TOIL. 121 

lawyers, better presidents, better anything, than the 
man who tries to go through hfe without God. 

The Holy Spirit not only intensifies our usefulness, 
but His presence gives a richer and a deeper meaning 
to the hour's recreation. A healthful, vigorous life 
will need its hours of repose. It will enjoy resting 
in order that it may more thoroughly enjoy work- 
ing. A long face is an awful contradiction of our 
blessed Lord's example. At Cana He revealed the 
healthful tendency of His life. Life is not so poor 
that there is no room left for healthful recreation. 
True recreation is a pause to gather new strength. 
Union with the Holy Spirit will forever settle the 
nature of the recreation. A godly man when 
invited to go to a certain place of amusement 
answered: *'We cannot go.'' The person who had 
invited him said that the invitation was to him 
alone; then he answered: *' Where the Holy Spirit 
cannot go I cannot go, for we are always together." 
With the Holy Spirit we may visit the picture 
galleries of the world, and drink from the refreshing 
springs of poetry, and art, and music, and we shall 
find God in everything. With Him a walk in the 
park will be a road to bring us daily nearer God. 

Oh, what a beautiful, full, complete life the life of 
union with God is ! 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE THREEFOLD ATTITUDE. 

IN the last chapter we spoke of the Holy Spirit in 
relation to daily toil; in this we shall speak of 
the threefold daily attitude that is necessary in 
order that our souls may vibrate in loving corre- 
spondence with His blessed promptings. 

As citizens of the New Kingdom, we go through 
life on the co-operative plan. We are never alone. 
There is always One about us who is intimately 
wedded to our interests. We have been committed 
to His guardianship, and He will guide us all the 
way. Now, in order that we may be able to 
co-operate intelligently with Him we must 

(i) Assume the Listening Attitude. — Only 
those who have turned their backs on the self- 
assertive and self-directive principle can assume 
this attitude. We must first be able to say: *' Lord, 
my heart is ready, my heart is ready,'' before we 
can say: ''Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.'' 

The attitude of listening is the attitude of a man 



THE THREEFOLD ATTITUDE. 1 23 

waiting for orders. The Holy Spirit not only helps 
us to do our daily work, but He directs us in relation 
to its choice. Only the willing and obedient see 
God in the little things of life. Those who live on 
the selfish principle say: ''It is fate, it is fortune, 
it is a necessity of nature;" but those who listen to 
the whispers of the Spirit say: *'It is the Lord.'' 

The highest act the most mature intellect can do 
is to acknowledge its utter dependence on the 
infinite intelligence of God. Those who reject God's 
guidance reject their own highest and fullest per- 
fection. 

Our first parents failed at this very point. They 
would be as God, knowing good and evil, judging 
right and wrong for themselves. They wanted to 
know the why and wherefore of God's command- 
ments, and because they did not know why, because 
they could not understand that the commandment 
was not arbitrary, but a loving direction for their 
own benefit, they refused to listen to God's voice, 
and so they fell. '* Their foolish heart was darkened; 
professing themselves to be wise, they became 
fools." Men in refusing to listen to the voice of 
God refuse their own highest and fullest good. 
Man can find his highest development only in union 
and communion with God. 

It is because God knows the essential malice of 
sin, the essential malice of the unit principle, that 



124 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

He gave laws for the direction of His children. If 
we could but see disobedience as God sees it, we 
would realize that His commandments are the 
landmarks of love to direct His children to the goal 
of perfection. God knows the ultimate tendency of 
every act, the final fruit of every sin. The ultimate 
result of the unit principle is eternal loneliness. 

Selfishness means ruin, it means decay, it means 
<;gverlasting worthlessness. The saddest words that 
Jesus ever used are : *' Depart from me.'' The final 
issue of the selfish principle is eternal separation 
from the King of the New Kingdom. It is because 
God could see the scope and ultimate issue of the 
unit principle that He gave laws for the guidance of 
His children. The essential meaning of every 
commandment is: ''It is not good for man to be 
alone." 

God has traveled all the way before us. He can 
see down the vista of eternal years. He knows 
what is best for us. We only know the surface of 
things; we cannot see the bearing of one thing on 
another. It is not ours, therefore, to ask for the 
**why" and the ''wherefore"; for He knows the 
way, and it is to our interest to listen to His loving 
yoice. 

"If thou wilt enter into life, keep the command- 
ments." God does not give directions merely to be 
obeyed, but for our good. At every command- 



THE THREEFOLD ATTITUDE. 12$ 

ment the Spirit whispers: ''It is better for thee!'' 
Thus the Hstening attitude is the attitude of eternal 
progress. 

God's will is ever the best. To listen to His voice 
implies that we are willing for Him to have His 
way with us. Many ask for guidance after they 
have chosen their own path. They want to be led 
along the line of their own selection. They want to 
make the will of God bend to theirs. They go 
through the mockery of asking for guidance, and yet 
they want their own way. Balaam is an impressive 
illustration of this. He was invited to curse the 
people of God. He knew from the beginning that 
to do so was a sin, yet he did not refuse. Three 
times he offered sacrifice; three times he went 
through the mockery of asking for guidance. He 
had his eye on the reward, so he wanted to bend the 
will of God to his own. It is so with many to-day. 
They want God's will to give way to theirs; they are 
still living under the dominion of the unit principle. 
The real listening attitude is a desire to be coupled 
together in thought and will with God. ^ It is a 
real wish to go where He goes, and where He wishes 
us to go. It is to say: ''Lord, lead me, check me 
when I go too fast, urge me on when I go too slow, 
but let me be with Thee!" 

This attitude of soul compels us to make use of 
the means through which the Holy Spirit whispers 



126 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

in our ears. He speaks to us first through conscience. 
Conscience is the Hnk that binds the soul to God. 
It is the voice of God in the human soul. At the 
gateway of every temptation, at every turning-point 
in the heavenly journey, the Holy Spirit whispers 
through our conscience: ''This is the way, walk ye 
in it." 

Again, reason is another medium through which 
the Holy Spirit leads. Reason can see the conse- 
quences of sin in ourselves, and in others, and in 
society. Reason can see the narrowing, limiting, 
and blighting influence of sin. It can also see the 
ennobling influence of those who walk with God. 
It can see the intensifying influence of the co- 
operative principle. So when we are tempted to sin,, 
the Holy Spirit whispers to us through our reason : 
*'Do thyself no harm.'' ''It is better for thee to 
enter into life. ' ' Yes, ' ' better for thee ! ' ' 

Again, the Holy Spirit leads us, through the 
written Word. The Psalmist says: "Thy Wordfis 
a light unto my feet.'' The Bible is the most 
modern of books. From it we may deduce princi- 
ples for our guidance to-day. But personal effort is 
essential. Mental laziness and timidity are just as 
bad as a false independence. The Holy Spirit opens 
to those who knock and gives to those who seek. 
The Holy Spirit always works on the co-operative 
plan. He gives understanding to those who search 



THE THREEFOLD ATTITUDE. 127 

His law. Hence, personal love to the Holy Spirit 
and love for the written Word always go together. 
It is through the written Word we learn of the 
Spirit's leadership in other ages. '*He went before 
the children of Israel in a pillar of a cloud by day and 
fire by night to show them the way.'' He was the 
guiding star in the movements of the Apostles. He 
led them to some places and forbade them to go to 
others. Acts XVI. 6, 7. 

We, too, have been committed to His care. He 
is our Counsellor and Friend. He guides us as truly 
as He guided them. The standing promise is: '*I 
will guide thee with mine Eye." With the Word of 
God in our hands and the Holy Spirit in our hearts, 
we can walk in the full blaze of certitude and 
confidence. Hence, those who listen to His voice 
are ready to assume 

(2) The Surrender Attitude. — To surrender to 
His guidance is the result of listening to His voice. 
This attitude implies a willingness to follow the 
interior light at whatever cost. The attitude of 
surrender is the attitude of expectation. It is a 
disposition of the soul by which it is prepared to 
accept anything and ever3rthing that the Divine 
Guide may ordain. 

The difference between the listening and the sur- 
render attitude is well illustrated by the words of 
Isaiah in relation to our Lord: ''The Lord hath 



128 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

Opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither 
turned away back/' Isaiah L. 5. *'The Lord hath 
opened mine ear,'' that is the listening attitude; 
"and I was not rebellious, neither turned away- 
back, " that is the surrender attitude. To listen 
to God's voice, to surrender to His leadings, 
meant Gethsemane and Calvary to Jesus, but still 
He courageously surrendered ! 

To surrender to the Holy Spirit's leadership 
pieant to the early Christians that they were willing 
to be regarded as condemned, despised, and as the 
very refuse and outcasts of the people. Yet they 
boldly followed on. Their language was: '*Be it 
unto us according to Thy word." Young men and 
young women with bright futures before them gave 
up everything in order to follow the leadings of the 
Holy Spirit. They are now among the noble army 
of martyrs enjoying their victory and triumph 
before the throne! If we were to ask them: *' What 
brought you here?" they would answer: *' Because 
we listened to the voice and followed the leadings of 
the Holy Spirit." The days of martyrdom are 
gone, but we still need a martyr's will in order to 
follow the leadings of our blessed Guide. Our break 
with the world, and our surrender to the Spirit's 
guidance, must be as final and complete as that of 
the saints of old. Our testing will be in proportion 
to the completeness of our surrender. The Holy 



THE THREEFOLD ATTITUDE. 1 29 

Spirit warns us in the written Word against some of 
the dangers and stumbHng blocks on the heavenly 
journey. We have to make our way '* against 
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of 
the darkness of this world, against spiritual wicked- 
ness in high places.'' But do not be afraid. Fear 
not. He who leads knows the way, and He knows 
us. He not only leads, but He strengthens us for 
the journey. He will guide us all the way. If there 
will be difficulties on the way, He will teach our 
hands *' to war and our fingers to fight, '* so that we 
shall be able to stand in the evil day. 

Let us be honest with the Holy Spirit ! Unreality 
spoils everything. He can only lead when we are 
irreversibly and completely surrendered to His 
guidance. We must surrender to Him in the little 
things of life as well as in the great. The more we 
yield to Him the keener our vision becomes, so that 
we see the greatness of the least action done for God. 
Under the guidance of the Spirit the little details of 
daily life become pregnant with meaning. If we 
follow at whatever cost, He will guide us all the 
way. ''Thou shalt guide me with Thy Coimsel 
here, and at last receive me to glory.'' 

One of the Kings of France took the Queen with 
him on a long and toilsome voyage. When the 
Queen was asked where she was going, she said: 
''I am not going, I am following. The King is 



130 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

going. I am acquainted with the general plan of 
his travels, I am not anxious about details, I simply 
accompany the King. It is not a desire to travel 
that leads me to go, but a desire to be with the King. 
It is he who goes, who undertakes the voyage, and 
who knows the reasons for doing so. As for me, I 
merely follow.'' This is a good illustration of the 
Surrender Attitude. 

'' Oh, blessed Holy Spirit, take me as Thy disciple, 
guide me, illuminate me. Be Thou my God, be 
Thou my Guide; wheresoever Thou leadest me I 
will go ; whatsoever Thou forbiddest I will renounce,, 
and whatsoever Thou commandest, in Thy strength 
I will do." 

(3) The Responsive Attitude. — The listening^ 
and surrender attitudes generate a most intense 
desire for service. A heart that vibrates in living 
correspondence with the inspirations of the Holy 
Spirit cries out: ''Lord, what wilt Thou have me 
do?" 

Our power for service is in proportion to the 
completeness of our surrender. Only the man who 
knows the way can give directions to others. No^ 
man can teach others with any power who has not 
learned what he is teaching by experience. He can 
give directions from a book, he can deal with 
phrases, but they are dead phrases and nothing 
more. In these days of music-boxes and slot- 



THE THREEFOLD ATTITUDE. 13 1 

machines and phonographs, we do not deny the 
usefulness of repeating phrases which have not been 
experienced. But they lack the power of one who 
is led and filled with the Spirit of God. The Spirit- 
led and the Spirit-filled alone can lead men and 
women into the Kingdom of God. When we go 
back to Apostolic methods, Apostolic results will 
follow. This is the only way the '' Masses" and the 
''Classes'' can be reached. 

The New Kingdom is ever the realm of co- 
operation and love. Every step in the upward 
march purifies our hearts, and deepens and 
broadens our sympathy for others. Thus every 
step intensifies our usefulness, and it intensi- 
fies our joy. It prepares us for the collective 
and accumulative joy of the New Kingdom before 
the throne. Here every step is a step into more 
joy, into more service, and into more praise. Every 
step brings us nearer and nearer to the ocean of 
eternal joy. Here the joy is mingled with tears, 
but there all tears shall be wiped away. Here the 
harmony is often marred by some one striking the 
wrong key; there the glory of each will be an element 
in the glory of all. 

Thus eternal companionship and eternal joy will 
be the final issue of the co-operative principle. The 
Spirit-led, from all quarters of the globe, will at 
last form one great, complex, anthem of everlasting 
praise. Before the throne there will be many eyes. 



132 THE INTERIOR OF THE KINGDOM. 

but one vision; many hearts, but one love; many- 
voices and languages, but one triumphant and ever- 
lasting song! Such is the Kingdom of God! 



THE END. 



JU' 



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